Carlos Alcaraz confirmed the extent of his shocking ankle injury and when he would play tennis again

Carlos Alcaraz He had played just two points in the match against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro for the first round of Rio ATP 500 when, while trying to slip on the brick dust, he sprained his right ankle. The postcard of the Murcian sitting on the pitch, with his head in his hands and with the pain reflected on his face caused concern, especially because in the following match, with a very swollen foot, he ended up retiring. This Wednesday, the world number two confirmed the seriousness of his injury and clarified doubts about what will happen to him. Netflix Slamthe exhibition that was supposed to take place on March 3rd with Rafael Nadal In Las Vegas.

“I just had an MRI on my ankle after yesterday’s injury. The diagnosis is a grade II lateral sprain, which will keep me awake for a few days,” he said on social media. And she closed: “See you in Las Vegas and Indian Wells!”

The Spaniard will then have eleven days to recover and arrive at the match without physical problems Rafawhich will be contested in Michelob ULTRA Sand of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino from “Sin City” and which will be the first sporting event to be broadcast live on the American streaming platform.

Carlitos also confirmed his presence in the Indian Wells 1000 Masters, the first tournament in that category of the season, which will be played from March 6 to 17. And then I would travel to You love me, the next event of that level, from March 20th to 31st. This way you won’t have to change your schedule due to the injury.

In the Californian desert, Alcaraz will try to defend the title he won last year, beating the Russian in the final Daniel Medvedevand give a turning point to a start to the season that was not as expected.

After falling in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before German Alexander Zverev; The Murcian tackled the South American tour on clay with enthusiasm, in which in 2023 he was champion in Buenos Aires and finalist in Rio (with victory and defeat against Cameron Norrie, respectively). But he couldn’t repeat those great performances.

He said goodbye to Argentina Open in the semifinals, after falling against the Chilean Nicholas Jarry and with the feeling of playing good tennis, but “very far from my real level”. And in the Rio competition he lasted just two games.

With the score at 15-15, Alcaraz tried to slide to take a cross from Monteiro, but his right leg got stuck and he sprained his right ankle. He received treatment from one of the tournament doctors, who strongly supported the affected area, and tried to continue playing.

He had a break in the first game to lead 1-0, but you could tell he was trying to close out the points in two or three shots. He was not able to travel far. And after the Brazilian recovered the break to make it 1-1, Carlitos said enough.

“My first impression was that it was very bad. I felt a lot of pain when I fell. I thought it would be difficult to continue playing if the pain didn’t go away. I kept seeing how I felt, but the situation didn’t get better, it didn’t I could move well and gave in. “I realize that it would have been impossible to continue playing without pain. And that this could have aggravated the injury. The physiotherapist told me it didn’t seem like a very serious thing, but you never know,” he said after the match.

Those words and the image of his very swollen ankle made him think that the injury was very serious and that it would be difficult for him to play the exhibition against Nadal. But it seems that just over a week before that appointment will be enough for him to recover. And so much Netflix while his fans breathe peacefully.