(Paris) World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz, whose clay court season was largely disrupted by a painful right forearm, no longer feels “any pain in training”, he said on Friday, at two days before the start of Roland-Garros.
“I don’t feel any pain in training, it helps not to think about it as much, but I still think about it from time to time when I hit forehands,” explained the young Spaniard, who is not often only seen in Madrid since the start of the tour on ocher.
In Monte-Carlo as in Barcelona initially, then in Rome after his elimination in the quarter-finals in the Spanish capital where he was double holder of the trophy, the protégé of Juan Carlos Ferrero did not line up.
“I would say I’m probably a little scared to hit every forehand 100%, that’s something I have to work on in training these days, but I’m focusing on not feeling no pain,” he added.
“I decided to play here basically a week ago, when we increased the intensity in training and I felt good,” said “Carlitos”. I think we did a really good job getting me to recover from my forearm injury as quickly as possible. We did everything we needed to do. »
“I arrive here with few (preparation) matches, not as many as I would have liked, but I’m training well, I’m getting back into rhythm, I’m gaining confidence, which is really important, and I think I I don’t need a lot of matches to be 100%, to reach a high level, estimated the double Grand Slam winner (US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023) and ex-world No.1. With this week (of training), I think I’m ready to play at a high level for my first match. »
In the draw, Alcaraz narrowly avoided a shock first round against his illustrious compatriot Rafael Nadal, crowned fourteen times on Parisian clay and who is likely playing his final Roland-Garros. Would he have wanted to challenge him from the start?
“Honestly, no,” he smiled. When I saw that there was a one in two chance that I would play against “Rafa” in the first round… Obviously I would like to play against him here in Paris, but not in the first round. Later it would be cool. »