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 game against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro for the first round of Rio ATP 500 when, while trying to slide on the brick dust, he twisted his right ankle. The postcard of the Murcian sitting on the court, holding his head and with the pain reflected on his face generated concern, especially because in the next game, with his foot very swollen, he ended up retiring. This Wednesday, the world number two confirmed the severity of his injury and cleared up doubts about what will happen to him. Netflix Slamthe exhibition that had to play on March 3 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 up for a few days,” he said on his social networks. And he closed: “See you in Las Vegas and Indian Wells!”

The Spaniard, then, will have eleven days to recover and arrive at the game without physical problems with Rafawhich will be disputed in the Michelob ULTRA Arena of the Mandalay Bay Resort y 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 Masters 1000 de Indian Wells, the first tournament of that category of the season, which will be played from March 6 to 17. And then he would travel to Miami, the next appointment at that level, from March 20 to 31. This way you won’t have to modify your schedule due to the injury.

In the Californian desert, Alcaraz will seek to defend the title he won last year, by beating the Russian in the final Daniil Medvedevand turn around a start to the season that was not as expected.

After falling in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before the German Alexander Zverev; The Murcian enthusiastically faced the South American clay court tour, 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 semis, after falling to the Chilean Nicholas Jarry and with the feeling that I am playing good tennis, but “very far from my real level.” And in the Rio competition, it barely lasted two games.

With the score 15-15, Alcaraz tried to slide to go for a cross drive from Monteiro, but his right leg got stuck and he sprained his right ankle. He received attention from one of the tournament’s doctors, who strongly supported the affected area, and attempted to continue playing.

He got a break in that first game to go ahead 1-0, but you could tell he was trying to finish the points in two or three shots. He was not in a position to make large trips. And after the Brazilian recovered the break for 1-1, Carlitos said enough.

“My first impression was that it was very bad. I was in a lot of pain when I fell. I thought it was going to be difficult to continue playing if the pain didn’t go down. I continued to see how I felt, but it didn’t get better, I couldn’t move well and I gave out. “I realize that it was going to be impossible to continue in the game without pain. And that it could aggravate the injury. The physio told me that it didn’t seem like something very serious, but you never know,” he had said after the game.

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 the little more than a week until that appointment will be enough for him to recover. And so much Netflix as his fans breathe easy.