Carlos Alcaraz is still experiencing discomfort in his ankle, a day after rolling it during his first round match at the Japan Open, according to a report by Spanish sports newspaper Marca.
The world No.1 suffered an injury scare during the fifth game of his match against Argentina’s Sebastian Baez. Alcaraz pulled up gingerly when playing a rally from the baseline before trying to approach the net. The discomfort he felt was in his left foot, which forced him to drop to the ground in pain. Amid the worrying scenes, the tournament physio was called for a medical timeout to evaluate the injury. Alcaraz opted to have his entire left foot heavily taped but was able to continue playing, winning the match 6-4, 6-2.
“I was scared too, I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
“When I landed on the ankle, I was worried to be honest because it didn’t feel good at the beginning. I’m just happy that I was able to play after that and play such good tennis. Let’s see.
“I think it’s not going to be easy the next day and a half for me. I will try to recover, to do whatever it takes to be ready for the next round.”
It is unclear how much pain Alcaraz is still experiencing. It is expected that his decision not to practice on Friday was out of caution to prevent it from worsening. The Spaniard doesn’t want to worsen the injury with two Masters 1000 events and the ATP Finals to come. There is also the King Six Slam in Saudi Arabia, which is an exhibition event, but pays millions in appearance fees for those taking part.
There is currently no indication that Alcaraz will pull out of his clash against Zizou Bergs in Tokyo, which is scheduled to get underway at around 19:00 local time on Saturday. He has already won seven titles since the start of January, which is more than any other player on the ATP Tour. He has won two Grand Slams (French Open and US Open), three Masters 1000s and two ATP 500s.
Alcaraz has won 48 out of his last 51 matches played since April.
