'Carlos Alcaraz’s gotta pace himself', says expert

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In the final in Rio de Janeiro Carlos Alcaraz was unable to defend his title and suffered his first elimination of 2023. In addition to the defeat, there was more with Alcaraz who had, at one point, the game in his hand and requested medical time off due to problems in the same leg that had caused him to injure himself. From that moment on, the challenge changed and the tennis player played with his leg bandaged and, of course, not one hundred percent until the end. Cameron Norrie ended up taking the victory and the concern is great in the house of Alcaraz. The tennis player spoke at a press conference and shed some light on his situation. These are the words collected by Tennis News: "The calendar is always very demanding, now I have been playing without a break for about 15 days. During the game I realized the problem, I asked the physiotherapist and he bandaged my leg. In fact, I felt pain in the same muscle where I injured myself last month. It's difficult, but I've tried to play my best tennis." The tennis player continued: "When you are injured it definitely affects your game, because when you are not well you have to try to do something different and take risks. So I tried to close the points faster, but Norrie is a tough opponent and it was difficult to win. In the end I took a lot of risks and made a lot of mistakes, and that decided the game. This challenge was very tough, I had my chances but I didn't take advantage of them. He is a great tennis player and he made the most of his opportunities, physically he was not at 100%, but I think that happens with very demanding schedules."

Alcaraz hopes to play the ATP 500 in Acapulco

Renowned sports journalist Steve Flink touched upon the incident and voiced his objection to Carlos Alcaraz’s jam-packed scheduling. “We could tell (he) has got an issue there, a serious issue – trying to play through it,” Flink said on the 'Court-Side with Beilinson Tennis' podcast. “Let’s just hope that Carlos is wise about his schedule for the next month. He’s had a lot of woes, you might say; A lot of issues with his body and he’s clearly a very fit, young man, but he’s gotta pace himself. And we want to see him around this game into his 30s like the three icons of this generation. That will only happen if he gets wise counsel and if he’s willing at certain times to say ‘No. I am putting my racquet down for a few weeks, I’m going to save myself.’”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/9kW74qR

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