Shocking news:Alcaraz may retire due to injury…..

Alcaraz suffers ankle injury in Rio opener, retires after two games

Spanish player hurt his ankle after just two points in his debut game.

Two points into his Rio Open presented by Claro opening-round match against Thiago Monteiro, top seed Carlos Alcaraz suffered an ankle injury. Although he made a brave effort to continue, he had to withdraw shortly after.

Alcaraz was advancing laterally back towards the middle of the court following a forehand return from the Ad court when Monteiro entered the court from behind him. In an attempt to stop his momentum, the Spaniard planted his right foot, but his ankle rolled severely, causing him to land on his posterior.

The World No. 2 returned to his bench with Monteiro’s assistance, where ATP physio Alejandro Resnicoff securely strapped his ankle. After coming back to the court, he broke the Brazilian to go ahead 1-0. However, his mobility was impaired, and he gave up after losing the following game’s serve.

Alcaraz stated, “I’ll have a test for my ankle tomorrow to see if it’s something serious or not.”

“I felt, and it hurt.” That was my initial impression. Since I was experiencing pain after falling, I reasoned that it would be challenging to play further if I continued to experience that kind of agony.

After a while, there was no improvement. I could sense the suffering. I was having trouble moving, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry on. I decided to retire because I believed that if I continued to play for a long time, things would only grow worse.

After making his ATP Tour debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2020, Alcaraz defeated Schwartzman to win the title in 2022 and came in second to Cameron Norrie in 2023.

The Spaniard’s fight to keep the No. 2 Pepperstone ATP Ranking against the rapidly rising Italian Jannik Sinner will not be aided by the loss. With just 535 points separating them, the defending Wimbledon champion has 1000 points to protect at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells next month.

Monteiro commented, “This is so strange, it was the second point of the match,” during his press conference. Although it didn’t appear all that serious on the court, I saw a terrible twist when I watched it on the big screen. He is a star and a prominent member of the new generation, so I can only support him in his recovery at this point.”

As of right now, Monteiro leads Alcaraz 2-0 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head, having beaten the former World No. 1 in their lone prior match at the Melbourne-1 ATP 250 in 2021.