“If I force myself to play Roland-Garros…”: the worrying observation of Carlos Alcaraz one month before the Paris tournament

Carlos Alcaraz could prioritize his medium-term career over the defense of a prestigious title. Injured in the right wrist and forced to withdraw from the Masters 1000 in Madrid, the Spaniard remained vague about his presence for Roland-Garros on Monday, ensuring that he did not want to “force” and “take the risk” of aggravating his injury.

Questioned at a press conference in Madrid after winning the Laureus Prize for best sportsman of the year, the world number 2 refused to give “a percentage” of chances of participating in the Parisian Grand Slam, of which he is the defending champion.

“If I force myself to play this Roland-Garros, it could harm me for the following tournaments. We are waiting for the next review to learn more and make a decision. But I prefer to come back maybe a little later, but in great shape, than to come back quickly and risk aggravating this injury,” he said.

“Really painful”

“Having had to withdraw from the Barcelona tournament, and now Madrid, which are tournaments that I wait for all year to play in front of my home crowd, it’s really painful. But these are things that happen in professional sport and we have to accept them,” continued the 22-year-old Spaniard, winner of seven Grand Slam tournaments.

“I have a long career ahead of me, so I’m not afraid of missing what I need to miss to recover as best as possible. I hope it’s nothing, but I have to get well if I don’t want this to cause me problems in the future,” he concluded.