Spanish Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz was seen hobbling in pain during his Japan Open's first game against Agentina's Sebastian Baez on Thursday in Tokyo. In a video surfaced on social media, Alcaraz was seen trying to go forward to return the pass to his opponent but was unable to as the pain took over and went down eventually.
Alcaraz, nevertheless, survived the injury scare to withstand Baez's challenge 6-4, 6-2, thereby progressing to the next round. Following the ankle injury, the youngster returned with it being heavily strapped during a medical timeout. He began to move a lot more comfortably after that but there was another delay due to rain as organisers had to close the stadium due to the rain falling.
Watch the below video:
"I was scared too, I’m not going to lie" - Carlos Alcaraz
Following the straight-set victory, the 22-year-old admitted that the ankle didn't feel good at first after he hurt it. However, Alcaraz said he continued playing for the fans and would have felt guilty had he not. He elaborated, as quoted by The Independent:
"I was scared too, I’m not going to lie. When I landed on the ankle, I was worried to be honest because it didn’t feel good at the beginning. I’m just happy that I was able to play after that and play such good tennis. Let’s see. I think it’s not going to be easy the next day and a half for me. I will try to recover, to do whatever it takes to be ready for the next round. It was unlucky. I would have felt a little bit guilty if I couldn’t continue and play some tennis for the fans so I just tried to have a good mindset and give everything that I have."
Despite losing the Laver Cup this year, the 22-year-old has had a stellar 2025. Although he got knocked out of the Australian Open earlier this year in the quarter-final, he went on to win the French Open, defending his title successfully. Alcaraz lost to Jannik Sinner in Wimbledon in the final, he avenged the defeat in a thrilling US Open decider, thereby clinching the title. Nevertheless, the 2025 edition of Laver Cup saw the Spainard getting stunned by America's Taylor Fritz, who called the victory one of the best moments of his career.
