Why Carlos Alcaraz skipped training ahead of Alexander Zverev battle – ‘I felt that pain’

Carlos Alcaraz insisted after his win over Matteo Arnaldi that his injury was “nothing serious”, but his team still opted to take the necessary precautions to keep him fresh for his next match against the resurgent Alexander Zverev.

The reigning US Open champion played with a heavily strapped leg on Monday, but it didn’t hamper his performance as he brushed the Italian aside in straight sets to reach back-to-back quarter-finals at the season-ending Grand Slam.

Naturally, he was questioned about his left thigh during his post-match press conference and declared it was a case of prevention and nursing the injury.

“In a Grand Slam you play for two weeks and the pain comes. I felt that pain the other day in my left leg, but it’s nothing serious,” the Spaniard said.

However, his team refused to take any risks ahead of his last-eight clash against Zverev and the 20-year-old skipped training on Tuesday and instead did some recovery work with his physiotherapist Juanjo Moreno.

Spanish paper MARCA reports that Alcaraz followed the same formula ahead of his match against Arnaldi as he also sat out training on Sunday.

“He has decided to repeat the routines and will continue to undergo treatment instead of jumping onto the training courts at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center,” the publication wrote.

Alcaraz will continue his bid to become the first player since Roger Federer in 2008 to successfully defend his US Open title, but he faces Zverev on Wednesday with the German finding his best form again following his horrific ankle injury last year.

Many pundits predicted it would be an Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner quarter-final, but Zverev battled to a five-set win over the sixth-seeded Italian with the contest just 19 minutes shy of the five-hour mark.

Despite his thigh problem, Alcaraz will no doubt be the fresher of the and he issued a warning to the chasing pack as he told Eurosport after his fourth-round match: “I can play calmer knowing that if people want to beat me, they’re going to have to suffer, run a lot, and play a very, very high level for a long time.

“Physically I feel good, mentally quite good and tennis-wise I think I am playing at a high level, so in these situations I feel calmer.”

The Alcaraz-Zverev clash will take place during the evening session at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

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