Following an early right ankle injury in his opening round against Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the Rio Open on Tuesday.
After just two points of play against Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, the two-time grand slam winner injured his ankle, and the Spaniard proceeded to break his serve. However, after having his serve broken in just one game, Alcaraz shook Monteiro’s hand and quickly fled the court to end the match.
It happened one week after the 20-year-old was defeated by Nicolas Jarry of Chile in the Argentina Open semifinals. World No. 117 Monteiro commented after the game that it was “strange” that an injury occurred so early in the contest.
“It didn’t seem that serious on the court, but when I saw it on the big screen, it was a bad twist,” he remarked. I can only applaud him now as he becomes better. He is a rising star in a younger age.
“I believe that these phenomena occur, particularly while playing with clay. Alcaraz, a finalist in Rio de Janeiro the previous year, stated, “It wasn’t a court issue; I hurt myself in a change of direction and that happens on clay.” As a result, he will drop significant ranking points.
El Palmar’s player, the top seed from the beginning, came back into the match to see if he could “continue or not.” “After talking with the track physio, we both agreed that I should keep trying to see if it gets better. Since it didn’t, we decided to take precautions and give up. They assured me it was nothing major, so I’ll take some time off and take the tests on Wednesday,” he said. Alcaraz in quotes gathered by the ATP portal.
As he prepares to defend his title in Indian Wells and Miami in the first two Masters 1,000 of the season, the world number two is hoping that the incident is not too serious and does not jeopardize the American season on hard courts. Furthermore, he has an exhibition with Rafael Nadal slated for March 3 in Las Vegas.
Conversely, Roberto Carballés, a tennis player from Tenerife, lost in three sets 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-3 to the Chilean Cristian Garín, failing to overcome his debut on the Brazilian red clay.
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