Clay court practice pays off for Carlos Alcaraz as he provides injury update
Carlos Alcaraz believes that his training for the clay swing has paid off and he was happy to start his quest for a third straight Madrid Open title with a straight-sets win.
Alcaraz defeated Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-1 on Friday to start his clay court campaign with a commanding performance.
The second seed’s right arm was covered with a compression sleeve after he withdrew from Barcelona and Monte-Carlo owing to injury. However, on Friday, the Spaniard showed no signs of physical weakness as he earned 11 of the matches 12 net points, moving well and ripping groundstrokes from the back of the court.
“I think I did pretty well honestly. The last month I just practised slices, volleys and backhands, so I think it worked pretty well today,” Alcaraz said.
“That was something I was thinking about approaching this match, trying to hit the forehand softer let’s say and trying to be aggressive with the backhand, trying to crash the net as soon as possible.
“I think I did a really good match in that part.”
Alcaraz says that he has sought to put all thoughts of his injury to one side but admits that it’s hard not to be a little bit tentative considering what the injury has cost him.
“Not at all, but I’m thinking about it,” Alcaraz said when asked if his arm was bothering him at all during his match.
“It’s not going to leave my mind I think… Coming into this week, I’ve been doing good things in practice, hitting harder, but I’m not feeling comfortable playing my forehand 100 per cent.
“But I think playing at this level, I’m really happy to do it. I think I can be competitive.”
Alcaraz has won 12 straight matches in Madrid, with title runs in 2022 and 2023. The hometown favourite is attempting to become the first player in tournament history to win three successive championships in Madrid.
Aside from the visible marker of his injury that was the compression sleeve, the Spaniard looked close to his best both in terms of movement and shotmaking.
Alcaraz changed up his return strategy on the fly; on Shevchenko’s delivery, he would often stand far back before inching forward to a more aggressive baseline position during rallies. Alcaraz attacked the ball with unrestricted movement and showed off his ability to overwhelm an opponent, hitting 24 winners to Shevchenko’s two, and altered tempo with his deft drop shots.
