Carlos Alcaraz believes now is the right time to return to tennis as he ends his four month hiatus at the US Open.
This wasn’t the preparation for the US Open title defence that Alcaraz had in mind but four months after his wrist injury in Barcelona, the Spaniard is back.
Alcaraz is the second seed 12 months after his US Open glory in New York when he defeated Jannik Sinner in four sets.
Many people thought that would be the start of an intense rivalry over the next 12 months but that hasn’t turned out to be the case and just when Alcaraz is fit it’s Sinner who has withdrawn from the US Open.
Despite their being doubts from many people about Alcaraz’s fitness the Spaniard is confident that now is the right time to return to the court, “My team and me, [we] believe that I’m ready. It wasn’t an easy decision,” Alcaraz admitted to the ATP website on US Open media day.
“I just did whatever it took to be ready. I just tried to do everything perfect on and off the court, to feel ready, really long practices, really intense practices, just to see how my wrist is going to react on the practices and after [those] really long days.
“I [am] just coming here with kind of that similar feelings of I need competition. I need to come here to practise with these guys, to feel the competition once again, and this is really testing. But I’m feeling great, and just I think that injury helped me a lot to know right now that it’s all in my head. I’ve got to trust my team, I’ve got to trust my people that tell me it’s going to be fine.
“So I just have to go 100 per cent, and right now I think with the practice I have made so far, it’s been all good. So trying to stay away from that fear, and I’m playing normal.”
Those comments will be good signs for Alcaraz’s fans who will be looking forward to seeing Alcaraz play again.
It’s been four months since his last match and Alcaraz described what has been the toughest part about the process, “The first month was kind of difficult for me, because I couldn’t do anything with my right arm. It was tough. But at the same time, I enjoyed my time,” Alcaraz elaborated.
“I enjoyed my time with family, with friends, staying at home. But once I started to practise a little bit, I didn’t know when I [was] going to start, [those] thoughts are really difficult to deal with, because I didn’t know if I [was] going to be ready for Cincinnati, for US Open, or [if I was] going miss the whole American swing.”
Alcaraz will begin his US Open campaign against Roman Safiullin on Monday.
