Little by little, Carlos Alcaraz is leaving behind the scare with his ankle | ATP Tour

US Open

Little by little, Alcaraz is leaving the ankle scare behind

The Spaniard trained for two hours this Sunday with Cobolli

August 25, 2024

It was a fraction of a second, but it was enough to leave the atmosphere silent for the entire morning.

On Saturday, during his training session with Francisco Cerúndolo, Carlos Alcaraz suffered a sprain in his right ankle and immediately cancelled the session with the Argentine, leaving the court with his team with a serious expression. After having to withdraw from his opening match at the Rio de Janeiro tournament against Thiago Monteiro this year after suffering a similar problem in the same place (right ankle), the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings doubled his precautions, as could not be otherwise.

With the opening match scheduled for next Tuesday in the first shift of the evening session, against Australian Li Tu, the champion of four Grand Slam titles and recent silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, spent the rest of Saturday observing how his ankle evolved as the hours passed, when the joint cooled down.

Accompanied by his team, the Spaniard took great care of himself, pampering a delicate area that has given him problems in the past, specifically last February.

On Sunday, 24 hours after the incident, Alcaraz appeared normally at Flushing Meadows and completed a two-hour training session (the first on the outdoor courts, the second at Arthur Ashe Stadium) with Flavio Cobolli without any problems.

With a protective bandage on his ankle, the Spaniard completed the training session displaying great tennis to forget what happened the day before, which altered his set-up before his debut in the last Grand Slam of the season, which he won in 2022, also becoming the youngest player in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings.

Alcaraz arrives at the 2024 edition after an incredible year in which he won Roland Garros, Wimbledon and took the silver medal in Paris a few weeks ago, where he lost the Olympic final to Novak Djokovic.

The Spaniard is the third seed in the draw and could face Jannik Sinner in a hypothetical semi-final and the Serbian in the title match.