Carlos Alcaraz opens up on injury concerns, media struggles, says 'Right now, I'm just chilling'

Former US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz has offered a candid update on his fitness, addressing both injury concerns and the challenges of constant media attention which used to give him sweating a few years ago. The Spaniard, who has been somehow managing early US open starts, admitted he sometimes feels pressure when facing reporters but is learning to handle the spotlight better. Second seed Alcaraz brushed aside a brief knee scare to cruise past Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in the US Open third round on Friday, notching his 80th career Grand Slam victory.


The 21-year-old, riding an outstanding stretch with a 42-2 record since April, took a medical timeout during the second set on Arthur Ashe Stadium but quickly regained control to dominate the remainder of the match. With the win, Alcaraz moves on to face Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in the Round of 16. He struck 31 winners against only 12 unforced errors and captured 70 of the 105 rallies lasting four shots or fewer.


"It's just a precaution that I asked for the physio," Alcaraz said after the match, playing down concerns about his injury. "I'm feeling good."


The reigning Roland Garros champion admitted he has even started to enjoy his media duties - a sharp shift from how he initially approached post-match press conferences.

"Few years ago I just coming here to the press conference sweating," Alcaraz said with a laugh. "Like, ‘Okay, let's see if I'm going to understand the question. Let's see what I'm going to answer.’ So, right now I just feeling more comfortable.

"I know you guys feeling like at home, let's say. So just, yeah, my English have improved a lot. I'm just trying to talk with the players, talking around, just watching series and movies in English helped me a lot to improve my English.

"Right now, I'm just chilling!" he added.


On his restaurant encounter with Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz says it was purely coincidental.

"It is a good restaurant. We ran into each other. It was just a coincidence. It wouldn’t be weird if we go together to have dinner, so probably one day."

The victory lifted Alcaraz's career Grand Slam record to 80-13, making him just the fourth man to reach 80 major wins at such a young age. Only Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, and Rafael Nadal achieved the milestone slightly earlier, by just a month or two.