Carlos Alcaraz retires in first round of ATP Rio Open due to ankle Injury
Source: X
Things are not looking good for 20-year-old Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz. He retired from the ATP Rio Open in a first-round match against Brazilian tennis player Thiago Monteiro due to an injury in his right ankle.
The world number 2 had nightmare times in 2024. Alcaraz started the match with tape on his ankle. But somehow, he won the first game. He dropped his serve in the second game and called for a medical time-out. After some time, he called to quit and retired from the tournament on Tuesday.
Carlos Alcaraz hinted about his medical retirement and said ‘It’s not serious’
“I spoke with the physiotherapist on the court and we decided, together, that I would continue to see if it improved. It didn’t, so we preferred to be careful and withdraw as a precaution,” Alcaraz said this after the match. Alcaraz also said that he has further scans on Wednesday.
Alcaraz won against Novak Djokovic in 2023 July. After that, he has not won a single ATP title. Things are getting bad to worse for the youngster as he lost to world number 21 Nicolas Jarry in the semi-final at Buenos Aires last Saturday. There are so many expectations from his fans but earlier in 2024 the two-time Grand Slam winner even lost to German Tennis player Alexzander Zverev in the Australia Open quarterfinals by 6-1, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
It all started because of a rain delay at the start of the match. The match was late by 3-4 hours. Start of the second game Alcaraz’s foot struck the clay surface at Jockey Club Brasileiro. four Tennis matches have already been postponed in the Rio Open since Wednesday due to bad weather. But Alcaraz did not blame the conditions. “Those things happen, even more so on clay, it wasn’t a problem with the court, I got hurt in a change of direction and that happens on this type of surface,” he said.
Brazilian opponent Thiago Monteiro felt sad about Alcaraz’s injury and he said, “It’s really sad to win in this way, because I know how hard every player works to be ready for a tournament of this magnitude, I just wish him a speedy recovery, that it’s nothing serious or that it won’t affect his season,”. Monteiro beat Alcaraz previously in the round of 16 in 2021.
