Carlos Alcaraz gives clearest injury update yet with Indian Wells defence still on cards
Carlos Alcaraz injured his ankle a few weeks before the Indian Wells Masters.
Carlos Alcaraz offered a promising update on his ankle injury after the second match of his Indian Wells title defence. The world No. 2 is the reigning champion at this week’s Masters event and he still has a shot at retaining his crown after reaching the last 16. After retiring from last month’s Rio Open, Alcaraz gave his clearest statement yet on the ankle sprain that he picked up.
Alcaraz played one of his best matches of the year on Sunday as he dispatched Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 6-3 in Indian Wells. It was a confident showing from the 20-year-old, who came into the tournament with plenty of question marks about his form and fitness.
The two-time Grand Slam champion fell and hurt his ankle during his opening match at the Rio Open on February 21, retiring just two games in. He admitted that he couldn’t practice as much as he wanted coming into the ‘sunshine double’ of Masters events in America. But in his latest injury update, Alcaraz confirmed that he has made a full recovery.
“I’m feeling better and better,” the defending champion told Tennis Channel after his win over Auger-Aliassime. “In the first round it was the first match after I sprained my ankle and I was really careful with the movements and (wanted to) see how it went.”
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After entering his opening match with some nerves, Alcaraz was back to normal on Sunday and said he didn’t have to think about the issue anymore. He continued: “But yeah, it was feeling good the first round, better and better and this match I felt nothing on the ankle.
“I moved perfectly without thinking about it. That was really good for me. I sliced with no problems at all so it was really good.” Alcaraz has had a somewhat disappointing start to 2024 by his own standards, losing in the quarter-final of the Australian Open and the semis of the ATP 250 in Argentina.
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But his form against Auger-Aliassime gave him a much-needed confidence boost going into the rest of the tournament this week. “I played such a great level, really good match and yeah I needed that kind of match,” Alcaraz explained.
“That level for me is always hard to keep growing my confidence my level and yeah really happy to have one of my best matches of the season.” The second seed will now face Fabian Marozsan in a rematch of last year’s round-of-32 match in Rome where the Hungarian stunned the world No. 2.