ATP Indian Wells: Carlos Alcaraz feels physically excellent again
World number two Carlos Alcaraz is back to his old self after his physical problems at the end of last season and in the final of this year's Rio Open.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Mar 12, 2023, 11:57 am
Carlos Alcaraz experienced a misfortune at the end of last season. The Spaniard, who had a real dream season last year and was able to win the US Open, among other things, had to give up in the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy due to injury and then declare it over prematurely in 2022. A start at the ATP finals in Turin was no longer possible.
And the injury devil struck again during his comeback in the South American sand court swing in the final of the ATP World Tour 500 event in Rio de Janeiro. Against the British Cameron Norrie, the 19-year-old from the Murcia region suffered a thigh injury and was visibly physically handicapped from then on. Participation in the hard court tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, had to be cancelled.
Trained a lot on the serve
The question marks were correspondingly large as to how the physical fitness of the ex-world number one was at the beginning of the Sunshine double. Alcaraz gave the first answer on the pitch - with a clear 6: 3, 6: 3 win in the second round at Indian Wells over Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. And a second answer followed in the subsequent press conference - the Spaniard gave the all-clear.
"I recovered very well, I can move around the pitch without any problems. I felt very comfortable playing, with more movement, so I think I'm ready and that I've fully recovered from my injury" said the top seed. He was particularly satisfied with his service, on which he had trained a lot in the recent past: "He will definitely help me in the next rounds."
The single tableau from Indian Wells.
iwmap