Alcaraz suffers injury and leaves the Rio Open in the first round – 02/21/2024 – Sport

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, number two in the world rankings, abandoned this Tuesday (20) the Rio Open, the biggest tennis tournament in Latin America, in Rio de Janeiro. He suffered an injury to his right ankle at the beginning of the match against Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (117th), in the first round of the tournament.

Favorite to win the trophy he already lifted in 2022, the 20-year-old Spaniard left the match with ankle pain when the score was 1-1 in the first set.

Alcaraz was injured at the beginning of the first game, in the dispute for the second point of the game when he reached for a ball on his forehand. His right ankle was sprained, probably due to the difficulty of sliding on the damp clay of the Jockey Club’s main court, wet from the rain that fell on Tuesday afternoon.

The rain, a recurring problem in the tournament, even forced the start of the games on this second day to be postponed by three hours and four games had to be postponed until Wednesday.

After the incident, the Spaniard went to his chair, where he received medical attention for ten minutes.

The ankle was bandaged and stabilized under the worried gaze of his coach, former Spanish tennis player Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was closely monitoring the situation from the stands.

Despite the visible discomfort on his face, the tennis player returned to the court and even showed off some of his good tennis. But he ended up abandoning the competition, to the frustration of the fans.

“It’s very sad to win like this, because I know how hard each player works to be prepared for a tournament of this magnitude. I just wish him a quick recovery, that it’s nothing serious or that it affects his season,” said Thiago Monteiro.

Second best Brazilian today, the 29-year-old left-hander remained undefeated against the Spaniard, whom he beat in the round of 16 of the 2021 Adelaide tournament (with scores of 7-6 and 6-3).

The physical setback adds to the unexpected start to the season: he lost on Saturday in the semifinals of the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires to the Chilean Nicolás Jarry (21st) and in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to the German Alexander Zverev (6th) almost a month ago .

With no chance of fighting for the title in Rio, where last year he lost the final to the British Cameron Norrie, Alcaraz has completed seven months without winning a title. The last one was at Wimbledon in July.