Alcaraz’s unexpected ‘opponent’: what could get him in trouble in the US Open?
The world No. 3 will be one of the US Open’s main attractions, as he will be looking to win his fifth Grand Slam event at the age of 21.
Carlos Alcaraz is back to the place that saw him reign supreme for the first time. The Spaniard won his first Grand Slam tournament in New York in 2022.
The Spanish superstar will try to forget his Olympic Games final with another big title in the calendar’s fourth and last major, the US Open.
The transition from the Olympics’ clay to Cincinnati’s hard courts wasn’t as smooth as he expected, as he fell in this year’s debut in the Ohio event to Gael Monfils.
Alcaraz didn’t feel comfortable against the Frenchman, as he wasn’t as sharp as he used to be in long exchanges and couldn’t break his opponent’s serve in the last two sets.
Carlitos will be looking to get at his best in the US Open, where he was eliminated by Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals last year.
Alcaraz’s most unexpected ‘opponent’ in the US Open
The Russian, alongside the current champion Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Alexander Zverev will also fight to get to the last round and become champions in New York.
The Serb has completely recovered from his knee injury and is ready to defend his title, while Alcaraz will try to avenge his painful loss in the Olympic tennis tournament final against Nole.
However, the Belgrade player could not be his toughest test, but Carlos himself and his agenda. The El Palmar native has had very few days off since the start of the French Open, playing lots of matches with almost no time to recover.
Although he spent some days in Mallorca after winning the silver medal in Paris he quickly got back to training to prepare for the Cincinnati Open.
He suffered an early elimination, but he hasn’t had the time to get enough rest physically and mentally, especially after he smashed his racket and the criticism he faced for that.
Today Alcaraz is playing an exhibition match, The Stars of the Open, with Andre Agassi against the Djokovic-John McEnroe duo. Besides that, he will attend some Nike and Babolat advertising events these days. And on Saturday he will be the star of the Kids Day, where he will share his time with young tennis fans, and shortly after he will compete at Flushing Meadows.