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Carlos Alcaraz made a winning return to the tour during the 2023 Golden Swing, after spending four months on the sidelines due to injuries.
Alcaraz featured in the finals of the first two tournaments on his return to the tour, lifting his seventh career title at the Argentina Open before failing to defend his Rio Open title after losing to Cameron Norrie in the final.
The 19-year-old, however, decided not to compete for a third straight week – in Acapulco – after he witnessed a recurrence of his leg injury that forced him to pull out of the Australian Open.
Speaking about Alcaraz’s decision, tennis analyst Gill Gross said that the young Spaniard shouldn’t have competed at the ongoing Mexican Open regardless of the leg discomfort.
“Back-to-back finals after coming back from injury, I don’t know (if) he was in a great position where he should have played Acapulco regardless,” Gill Gross said on his Monday Match Analysis podcast. “I would go as far as to say that he almost definitely should not have played Acapulco.
The recent injury setback, which the former World No. 1 revealed was a grade 1 strain, wasn’t much of a concern as per the tennis analyst.
“In that respect, I’m not really worried about this latest thing,” he added. “It seems like he retore (the same muscle as from the previous injury), but it’s grade 1. So, it’s more of a strain.”
The analyst was of the opinion that if Carlos Alcaraz was to recover in time for the Indian Wells Masters, the strain shouldn’t even be counted as an injury.
“So, for Alcaraz, if he doesn’t miss Indian Wells, this latest one is not even a blip on the radar. It doesn’t even register on the Richter scale. So, in that case, he would be fine,” he said.
"We saw Carlos Alcaraz play a pretty rigorous 2022 season" – Tennis analyst states reason for belief in World No. 2's abilities
Carlos Alcaraz may have had a few hiccups in recent months, but the 19-year-old maintained sublime form for most of the 2022 season and clinched five titles - the US Open, ATP Masters in Miami and Madrid, and ATP 500s in Rio and Barcelona.
Reflecting on the spectacular 2022 season, which was essentially Alcaraz’s first full year on tour, tennis analyst Gill Gross expressed confidence in the teenager’s abilities to produce a similar run in 2023.
“I also want to say that we saw Carlos Alcaraz play a pretty rigorous 2022 season, which was his first full year on tour, essentially,” Gill Gross said.
“(He was) healthy for 85% of it I would say. He had a pretty full season. So, the fact that we’ve seen that is a good thing. I am not that worried about Alcaraz being injury-prone. There’s a little bit of concern but it’s not major,” he added.
Carlos Alcaraz will now hope to participate in the first Masters 1000 tournament of 2023 – the Indian Wells Open (March 6- 19), where he registered a semifinal finish last year.
