Carlos Alcaraz admitted Friday that he was “a little bit scared” over how his sledgehammer forehand will bear up at the French Open after overcoming a worrying arm injury. The charismatic world number three was forced to sit out the recent Rome Open to nurse a problem with his right forearm. “I’m not feeling any pain in the practices when I step on the court. But I’m still thinking about it when I’m hitting forehands,” said the 21-year-old Wimbledon champion.
“I’m a little bit scared about hitting every forehand 100 percent.”
Alcaraz, also a former US Open champion, has played just one clay-court tournament in Europe this year, reaching the last-eight in Madrid.
Earlier in the year, he was a semi-finalist on the Buenos Aires clay before his arm problems sparked a retirement after two games of his opener in Rio.
The precise nature of his injury has remained a mystery to the Spanish star.
“I think you’re not going to believe me, but I don’t know exactly what I have on the forearm,” he said.
“When I do the tests, when I’m talking with the doctors, my team, they explain to me, I listened but I forgot it.”
One thing that Alcaraz cannot forget is his painful exit from the 2023 French Open when he lost a four-set semi-final to Novak Djokovic, revealing that the fear of facing the world number one had caused his body to cramp up.
Despite the poor form of defending champion Djokovic and injury-hit 14-time champion Rafael Nadal this season, Alcaraz insists they cannot be written off as contenders.
“Probably we don’t see them playing their best tennis, but it’s a Grand Slam, it’s Roland Garros, and I think they have chances to win the tournament,” he said.
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