Carlos Alcaraz injury update: Spaniard begins training with cautious approach after 2-week absence

Carlos Alcaraz has been spotted resuming his training routine after a gap of 12 days. The Spaniard was last seen in action at the Madrid Open, where he lost to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals.

On Monday, May 13, Alcaraz was finally spotted resuming his training after a 12-day gap ahead of the French Open. In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by @Olly_Tennis_, he could be seen practicing while wearing heavy strapping on his arm, possibly as a precaution.

Expand Tweet

Since his debut in 2020, Alcaraz has taken the tennis world by storm. The 23-year-old has already won two Grand Slams, becoming the youngest ever World No. 1 when he won the US Open in 2022. He has 13 career titles to his name and is already considered as the future of men's tennis on the ATP tour.

The 2024 season, however, has been a mixed bag for the young sensation. He suffered a quarterfinal exit at the Australian Open at the hands of Alexander Zverev, but bounced back by winning the BNP Paribas Open. At the Miami Open, he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals despite being the top seed.

An arm injury has since hampered his European clay-court campaign. A pronator teres muscle injury forced Carlos Alcaraz to withdraw from the Monte-Carlo Masters and the ongoing Italian Open. Even at the Madrid Open, he could not play to his full potential due to the same injury.

Alcaraz is expected to play at the French Open scheduled to start towards the end of this month.

"I still don't trust 100% the forearm" - Carlos Alcaraz played the Madrid Open with an injured arm

After withdrawing from the Monte-Carlo Masters, Alcaraz decided to play at the Madrid Open, but his quarterfinal exit raised doubts over his recovery. After his defeat to Rublev, he stated that more than a physical discomfort, it was the mental uncertainty that affected his game.

"I still don't trust 100% the forearm. I have doubts, it's just in my head. I love competing, so from time to time I want to go hard and I think about it." said Carlos Alcaraz (via reuters.com).

Alcaraz clarified that playing with an injury did not lead to him playing at a lower level, but simply meant he made tweaks to his playing style. One such tweak was not going hard with the forehand to ensure he did not flare up the existing injury.

"I can't say that I play at a lower percentage, I play differently. You're used to seeing me push my forehand to 200% several times in matches. Juanqui (His coach Juan Carlos Ferrero) tells me I don't need to go that far," he added.

Alcaraz was the two-time defending champion heading into the 2024 Madrid Open, which was incidentally won by Rublev.

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

Know More

Edited by Anantaajith Raghuraman