Alcaraz: “I don’t know how the ankle will react and I’m a little nervous”

Carlos Alcarazwho won this Friday in the second round of Indian Wells and there is a return to Italian Matteo Arnaldisaid he was “nervous” to see how his ankle would respond after the injury he suffered in February in Rio de Janeiro.

“This is my first game playing at high intensity (since the injury) and I don’t know how the ankle will react.. Many things came to my mind. “I could not be one hundred percent focused on the game and it made me a little nervous,” he explained in a press conference.

“When you’re nervous (…) you don’t hit the ball as much as you want, you don’t move as much as you want,” he added.

Reigning champion of Indian Wells, Alcaraz began his title defense this Friday in the California desert in a match that turned out to be very complicated for him and he ended up brilliantly qualifying for the third round.

The Spaniard, world number 2 and not required to play in the first round as the tournament’s second seed, defeated Arnaldi 6-7(5), 6-0 and 6-1 in two hours and 14 minutes, covering in position 40 in the ATP ranking

At the next crossing, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, world number 31, awaits him.

“I was a bit surprised by the conditions. Playing during the day is really different than at night. I practiced every day, in the sun, and in the sun and in the heat they were completely different boats, the ball went to someone else, and it cost me the whole first set. I have to change my game,” said the Murcian.

“But after the first set I understood. I played better, the rallies were long, I hit the ball better. I felt better,” he added.

Alcaraz admitted his doubts in the first set but insisted his “energy” and “intensity” increased from the second set onwards.

“I am recovering from my ankle injury. “I think about it all the time and I haven’t trained as much as I would like,” he said.

“But now I feel better and I think I have to find the right rhythm step by step,” he said.