Carlos Alcaraz opens up in Paris: “It has been a long recovery process, sometimes I thought I would never recover my best level, I doubted if I could be 100% again”

Carlos Alcaraz He assured this Monday that after his long absence due to injury, this year he faces the end of the season “with freshness”, which after his victory in Vienna goes through the Masters 1,000 in Paris, one of the tournaments in which he has obtained the worst results in his career.

“Now I feel very good, after a period of rest, small, normal physical things always appear, but they don’t worry me. I’m focused on continuing to improve and happy to reach this part of the season with a good physical and mental appearance. I’ll take that as a positive point, that I’m going to try to take advantage of coming fresher,” said the Spaniard, who will make his debut this Wednesday against the winner of the duel between the American Alex Michelsen and the Czech Jiri Lehecka.

The world number 3 assures that he has recovered his best version after the wrist injury that after winning the Australian Open kept him away from the courts for four months, in which he missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon. In it US Open reached the quarterfinals.

“It has been a long recovery process, in so much time it gives you a lot to think about and sometimes I thought that I would never recover my best level, I doubted if I could be 100% again. But when you surround yourself with fantastic professionals it is easier to recover and now, after the victory in Vienna, I am convinced that I have returned to the highest level,” he indicated.

In Vienna cHe continued his fourth tournament of the course, although none for now in a Masters 1,000, in which his best result was the final of Monte Carlo who lost against the Italian Jannik Sinner.

In Paris he aspires to add the first and become the third tennis player since 1990 to chain five consecutive seasons winning at least one Masters 1,000, along with Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

The number 2 favorite, who has five victories after lifting the title in Vienna, aspires to win a tournament in which his best result was the 2022 quarterfinals, when he had to withdraw against the Danish Holger Rune.

“I couldn’t explain why I haven’t had good results here, I think I’ve played good tennis some years and I’ve fallen in the first round and it’s true that in others I haven’t reached one hundred percent. I know that at some point I’ll have good results here, sooner or later,” he said.

A special scar guards his passage through the indoor track in Paris in 2021when before an enthusiastic public in support of the French Hugo Gastonon the old Bercy track, ended up eliminated in tears.

“I don’t have good memories of that match, but seen from a distance it was an important moment for my career. For the first time I felt outside pressure and I learned a lesson, that you shouldn’t listen to the public, that you have to focus on yourself, on your tennis and not let the rest affect you. I learned a lot from that match,” he concluded.