Carlos Alcaraz has been backed to reach the US Open final, with the Spaniard producing an impressive display to see off Roman Safiullin on his return to action after more than four months out.
The Spaniard overcame the dangerous Russian 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday in two hours and 22 minutes and showed no physical struggles following a troublesome wrist injury.
The 23-year-old got his US Open defence off to a good start and can now look forward to a second-round clash with Jaime Faria. After his victory, the seven-time major winner admitted he had missed the sport.
Alcaraz said, “It’s been a really tough five months for me, so to be able to step into Arthur Ashe and be able to compete again… as I said before the tournament, I couldn’t have decided to come back at a better tournament, here at the US Open, here in New York. It’s a really special place for me, a special tournament for me.
“I tried to enjoy as much as I can. I missed. I missed the crowd, the energy. I missed the competition. I missed everything, so I’m just really happy I was able to compete again.”
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Before Alcaraz – who had been out with a wrist injury since mid-April – had even played his first round singles match, tennis content creator and analyst Gill Gross felt that the former world No 1 had it in him to reach the final weekend at Flushing Meadows.
However, the tennis commentator also feels that due to his long time out of the game, he is not truly confident Alcaraz will defend his title. That is because of his relatively high-risk game and his struggles to sometimes “win ugly” – which wasn’t an issue for “prime Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic”.
“This is a pretty tough one to explain. It’s a somewhat unprecedented situation. If Alcaraz does make the final, I am probably going to change my pick. I am probably going to think on Championship Sunday that he is going to win,” Gross said on his YouTube channel.
“But I think there’s a real threat that he plays a bad match and when he does I still think he’s not quite as good as prime Nadal or Djokovic at responding to a C-level for Carlos by his standards.
“Reining in the margins and finding a way to win ugly. Alcaraz plays a very ambitious style, high degree of difficulty, things have to be clicking. It is not easy to play the way Carlos Alcaraz plays. Despite his greatness and his greatness is why I would not be surprised at all if he wins the title. I do not take his chances lightly. I do not brush him aside.
“But just because of that trait, I can’t go all the way to picking him to win the US Open having not played a tournament in four and a half months. That’s the hesitation; it’s the style. I think his style is really tough to execute if you haven’t been playing.”
Surprisingly, Gross picked 19-year-old Rafael Jodar to win his maiden Grand Slam title and beat Alcaraz in the final in five sets. However, he did caveat that by saying if the second seed does make it that far, he may change his pick.
Jodar is currently 12th in the ATP Rankings and is ninth in the ATP Tour Race. At this rate, the young Spaniard seems well set to qualify for the ATP Tour Finals in Turin and due to his firepower, movement, consistency and fitness, Gross thinks he can win big in New York.
He added that Jodar may need Alexander Zverev, who beat him in three sets in the French Open quarter-finals, and Taylor Fritz, who denied him winning the Washington Open, may need to “stumble” for him to reach the final.
But the fact that he has been “off the charts” in terms of wins this year, Gross is backing Jodar to go the distance. First up for him is Thanasi Kokkinakis. If he can get through that, he could be one to watch.
