New York (AFP) – Four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz downplayed injury concerns Saturday after cutting short a US Open practice session when he twisted his right ankle. “I just stop my practice just for precaution,” the 21-year-old Spaniard told reporters who turned out for his scheduled Media Day press conference. “I didn’t feel comfortable enough to keep practicing just in case if everything is going to be worse. But after a few hours later, I’m still feeling good. Tomorrow I will try to be practicing again 100 percent without thinking about it.”
Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 2022. He’s piled up three more since then, including this year’s French Open and Wimbledon. But after he swept past Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, he was beaten by the 24-time Grand Slam champion in the Paris Olympics final at Roland Garros. In his only scheduled US Open tune-up, Alcaraz crashed out of the Cincinnati Open, uncharacteristically losing his cool as he fell in three sets to French veteran Gael Monfils.
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Alcaraz, who later apologized for smashing his racquet in frustration, called it “the worst match that I ever played in my career.” But he insisted Saturday that a lack of hard court preparation — after the unusual clay-to-grass-to-clay schedule brought about by the addition of the Olympic Games after Wimbledon this year — wasn’t a problem. “It doesn’t matter for me,” he said. “Obviously I have loved to have more matches (under) my belt on hard court before the US Open. But it doesn’t affect me at all. If I look back a little bit, you know, for example, facing Roland Garros, I hadn’t too much matches on clay, and it was a pretty good result. And then in Wimbledon, same thing. So I don’t want to think that it’s going to be the same (as) the previous two Grand Slams, but I’m not worried about not having too many matches on hard court.”
Despite his youth, Alcaraz has shown himself well able to rise to big occasions. He has never lost a Grand Slam final and said he would learn from his defeat in the Olympic final. “It was a difficult moment to deal (with) for me,” he admitted, “losing the gold medal in a really close match that I had opportunities. But, you know, in front of me, I had a really good player that he was fighting for the same thing as me, and he deserve it. So days after the Olympics was OK, I realize that I won the silver medal, it was a great achievement for me that I have to be proud of. The next final or the next important matches of my career I’m going to deal in a different way or a better way than I did in Olympics.”
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