Alcaraz faces his doubts ahead of the French Open
The Murcia native gets to Paris after combining physical and mental work, with his psychologist, to recover from his right arm injury.
Carlos Alcaraz lands today in Paris to participate in the French Open, which starts on Sunday. The Murcian player has been dealing with a right forearm injury since the beginning of the clay-court tour, which forced him to skip Monte Carlo and the Barcelona Open.
Later, he returned to competition at the Madrid Masters 1.000, where he was the defending champion. But lost to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals and his injury worsened, forcing him to take another break and announce his withdrawal from Rome.
Alcaraz rested for a few days and avoided exercising with a racket until Monday, May 13. According to reports from his staff, the training sessions have been very controlled, gradually increasing his drive’s intensity and strength. The sessions have been held at the Real Sociedad Club de Campo de Murcia, in El Palmar, and his coach’s academy, Juan Carlos Ferrero, in Villena, Alicante.
Alcaraz worked on his insecurities with a psychologist
But besides physical recovery and court practice, he also worked on the mental aspect, dealing with his insecurity and doubts due to the injury. Alcaraz had several sessions with his psychologist, Josefina Cutillas.
At the Madrid Open, Alcaraz admitted that he wasn’t playing confidently during the games, saying he was afraid to let his arm go. “I have probably thought more about my forearm than about yesterday’s match (against Jan Lennard Struff in the round of 16). After playing for three hours, I knew I was going to feel something or think more about it,” explained Alcaraz, who keeps training with a compression sleeve, after losing to Rublev.
Alcaraz (21), the world’s No. 3, reached the French Open semifinals in 2023, losing to Novak Djokovic after suffering a cramping episode due to nerves. After a wasted clay-court campaign due to his injury, the Parisian Grand Slam event will be a good opportunity to get to his best form in a year where Indian Wells has been his best tournament.