Carlos Alcaraz made some surprising injury confessions after he successfully defended his title in Indian Wells with an emphatic win against Daniil Medvedev in the final.
Alcaraz showed great athleticism throughout the tournament in the Californian desert, with his 7-6(5) 6-1 win against Medvedev seeing him sliding on the hard court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with incredible elasticity.
His performances were all the more remarkable given the injury concerns he had coming into the tournament after he rolled his ankle and had to pull out of a tournament in Rio last month.
Alcaraz played down the significance of that injury throughout his attempt to win another Indian Wells title, possibly to ensure his opponents didn’t identify any sign of weakness.
Yet the Spaniard felt he could open up on the problem after he got his hands on the title once again and it appears he had big doubts about his ability to play at Indian Wells, as he underwent intensive treatment prior to the tournament.
“Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before it began, I had a lot of doubts about my ankle,” said Alcaraz.
“I remember my first practice here was just 30 minutes with no movement and probably the first practice with really good tennis players was really tough for me, because I thought I was not going to play my best.
“I was not feeling well with my ankle, so a lot of doubts for me. But once I stepped on the court, the first round, I started to feel better.
“I was thinking about if I could play my best or not. It was not feeling well in my ankle.
“I got treatment every day. Obviously, I realised that I might have to play with a bit of pain and this is normal for a tennis player.
“Also with my team, I did good work to recover and I did this as best as I can. We did this.”
Alcaraz went on to admit his slow start to the match against Medvedev was down to nerves, as he allowed his opponent to race into a 3-0 lead in the first set.
“I was having some nerves at the start and I was not feeling the ball well, so it was tough for me,” he added.
“In three games you can turn it around and I started to play better. I calmed myself, started to control my emotions and I found a way to win.”
Alcaraz’s win at Indian Wells was all the more impressive considering the injury issues he had coming into the event, with tennis legend Martina Navratilova suggesting pundits who questioned the young Spaniard after his dip in form after he won Wimbledon last year were misguided.
“You can see that he has an amazing talent from the get-go. He was number one in the world and won a major and people are writing him off at 20? This guy is only going to get better,” Navratilova told Sky Sports Tennis.
“He’s not going to get worse, so it’s not a fluke what he has done.
“He’s solid as a rock and he moves better than anyone I have ever seen. He’s so strong, there are no weaknesses and he can still get better so watch out world.”
Alcaraz will now head to the Miami Open looking to win another Masters 1000 title, with his record in the ATP’s A-list events putting him alongside the game’s all-time greats.
The 20-year-old has now won ATP Masters 1000 title from 21 main draws entered, with a win rate of 23.8%.
Alcaraz only trails Novak Djokovic (31.3%) and Rafael Nadal (28.1%) for Masters event win rate since 1990.