Forced to withdraw from the Madrid Masters 1000 due to a wrist injury, Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, ranked No. 2 in the world, remained vague on Monday about his presence at Roland Garros, stating that he did not want to “force” or “take risks” to worsen his injury.
Speaking at a press conference in Madrid after winning the Laureus Award for the best athlete of the year, Alcaraz refused to give “a percentage” of chances to participate in the Paris Grand Slam, of which he is the defending champion.
“I prefer to come back maybe a little later”
“If I push myself to play at Roland Garros, it could be detrimental for the upcoming tournaments. We are waiting for the next examination to learn more and make a decision. But I prefer to come back maybe a little later, but in a very good condition, than to come back quickly and risk worsening this injury,” he said.
“Having to withdraw from the Barcelona tournament, and now from Madrid, which are tournaments I look forward to playing in front of my home crowd all year, is really painful. But these are things that happen in professional sports and they must be accepted,” said the 22-year-old Spaniard, winner of four Grand Slam titles.
“I have a long career ahead of me, so I am not afraid to miss what I have to miss in order to recover properly. I hope it’s nothing, but I need to make sure I recover well if I don’t want it to cause me problems in the future,” he concluded.
