Carlos Alcaraz is a few days away from returning to clay, but he’s not worried about his ankle, admitting that he is pain-free.
The last time Alcaraz stood on a clay tennis court was weeks ago at the Rio Open in Brazil. Just a few minutes into his match at the ATP 500 tournament in Rio, he rolled his ankle badly and had to retire.
Thankfully, the injury wasn’t catastrophic, so he was able to return to the courts pretty quickly after that. He went on to win the Indian Wells Open by playing some of the best tennis he’s played in over six months, but that didn’t translate as well to Miami.
Now it’s time for the European clay season, which will be his second time on clay this year. He went to South America for the Golden Swing but didn’t show his best tennis while there.
The injury obviously cut his time shorter than he wanted, but he will want to impress much more in Europe. He dismissed suggestions that he’s the favorite to dominate the clay season but also admitted he’s pain-free ahead of the Monte-Carlo Masters, at least when it comes to his ankle.
“I thought [about my clay return after the Rio injury], with all the slices and being careful on it. But after the first hour [of training back on clay], I try not to think about it and played normally.”
“I don’t feel pain in my ankle, and am moving normally. It’s something I have to trust, and let’s see. The first matches will be difficult, and there might be some thoughts in my mind about it.”
Alcaraz needs to play freely on clay because that’s when he’s most dangerous. Being healthy obviously allows him to do that, but while his ankle seems to be healthy, his wrists seems to be troublesome.
In his first practice since declaring his ankle pain-free, the Spanish player appeared to struggle with his wrist, which scared many of his fans.