Ajla Tomljanovic has pinpointed what part of Carlos Alcaraz’s game has been most affected by his wrist injury.

The Spaniard returned to action at this year’s US Open after more than four months out with a wrist problem. After easing his way back into match play with the mixed doubles, the 23-year-old has come into his own in the singles at Flushing Meadows.

The seven-time major winner has dropped just one set so far, which came in his second-round match against Jaime Faria, and on Sunday, he impressively saw off 20th seed Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

After the match, the former world No 1 said, “I played my game. I tried to play my style. Tommy is such a talented player. His shots are pretty dangerous and sometimes it is really difficult to control the ball when it comes to you. I just tried to be ready for a battle and tried to be aggressive all the time.

“I tried not to let him stay [high up] on the court and I think I did pretty well to put so much pressure on return games, which for me helped a lot to play relaxed, to play calm and think clearly. I’m really happy with the performance today.”

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Against Paul, Alcaraz hit three aces to the American’s four, his first serve percentage was at 75%, his first serve points won was 72%, and he won 44% of his return points.

The second seed also fired 33 winners to Paul’s 18, with Alcaraz later saying that he felt he was back to full physical power. As he prepares to face Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals, former US Open quarter-finalist Tomljanovic has assessed the Spaniard’s tournament so far.

Many feared that Alcaraz would skip the US Open after he withdrew from Cincinnati. But so far, he looks like the man to beat in New York.

Over the summer, Alcaraz posted a video of him practising without any strings in his racket. Many observers feared that he would go down the path of Juan Martin Del Potro and Dominic Thiem, who struggled after sustaining wrist injuries.

So far, though, Tomljanovic has stated that Alcaraz’s forehand may be bigger than ever but the serve isn’t quite there yet.

She said on the Big T podcast, “It’s really impressive to me that apparently Carlos is hitting it harder than pre injury, whereas his serve hasn’t yet gotten to the miles per hour that we’ve seen pre injury.

“So clearly it tells us that the wrist issue must have been more present on the serve.”

The Australian then asked her co-host, Brad Gilbert, if he still has a shot at the title with a slower first serve. And going by his answer, Andre Agassi’s former coach did not seem too concerned.

“This is a good question. Do we know if his racket tension is three of four pounds looser? I also noticed he’s hitting the fear hand (forehand) flatter. He’s hitting it through the court because the court is playing slower,” he said.

“He doesn’t want to play spin here. I saw him hit a serve 130 today, and he’s been mostly spinning it. So the fact that he has 130 showed me that maybe he even has 135.

“So I think he’s getting better physically. But I think more importantly, he’s getting better mentally because he’s trusting the wrist.”

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