Carlos Alcaraz downplays injury concerns after cutting training short – Firstpost

Carlos Alcaraz has played down his injury concerns after abandoning a practice session at the US Open due to a sprained right ankle.

“I only interrupted my training as a precaution,” the 21-year-old Spaniard told reporters at the press conference on media day.

“I didn't feel well enough to continue training, just in case things got worse. But a few hours later, I'm still fine.

“Tomorrow I will try to train 100 percent again without thinking about it,” said the four-time Grand Slam winner.

Alcaraz won his first major title in 2022 at Flushing Meadows. Since then, he has added three more, including this year's French Open and Wimbledon.

But after defeating Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, he lost to the 24-time Grand Slam champion in the final of the Olympic Games in Paris at Roland Garros.

In his only warm-up match for the US Open, Alcaraz was eliminated from the Cincinnati Open when he uncharacteristically lost his nerve and lost in three sets to the experienced Gael Monfils.

Alcaraz, who later apologized for smashing his racket in frustration, called it “the worst game I've ever played in my career.”

On Saturday, however, he stressed that the lack of preparation of the hard courts – following the unusual schedule of alternating clay courts, grass and clay courts, which was due to the Olympic Games this year after Wimbledon – was not a problem.

“It doesn't matter to me,” he said. “Of course I would have liked to have played more matches on hard court before the US Open.”

“But it doesn't affect me at all. If I look back a bit, you know, for example at Roland Garros, I didn't have many matches on clay and it was a pretty good result.

“And then at Wimbledon, the same thing.

“So I don't want to think it will be the same as the previous two Grand Slams, but I'm not worried about not having many hard court matches.”

Despite his young age, Alcaraz has proven he can handle tough challenges. He has never lost a Grand Slam final and said he will learn from his Olympic defeat.

“It was a difficult moment for me to deal with,” he admitted, “losing the gold medal in a really close match where I had chances.”

“But you know, I had a really good player in front of me who was fighting for the same thing as me and he deserved it.

“A few days after the Olympics went quite well, I realized that I had won the silver medal. For me, that was a great achievement and one that I can be proud of.

“I will approach the next final or the next important games of my career differently or better than I did at the Olympic Games.”