Carlos Alcaraz is set to step up his recovery from the wrist injury that has left him on the sidelines since April, with former British No 1 Greg Rusedski suggesting there is a clear deadline on the horizon for the Spaniard.
Alcaraz missed the French Open and Wimbledon with the wrist injury he picked up at the Barcelona Open, with a recent social media post suggesting he is a long way from playing top tier tennis again, with the 23-year-old striking the ball gently in what looked like the early stages of a comeback.
Further question marks were raised as Alcaraz made an appearance at the World Cup final in New Jersey with a wrist support still evident just to watch Spain beat Argentina.
Now Rusedski has given his verdict on Alcaraz’s hopes of playing at the US Open next month, as he believes he is hoping to use the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati as his fitness test ahead of the final Grand Slam of the year.
“To have any chance to play at the US Open, he’s gotta play Cincinnati,” he declared on the edition of his Off Court with Greg Rusedski podcast that will be released on Monday.
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“If he plays Cincinnati and the wrist holds up, that is exciting news for our sport, because we definitely need him back.
“If he doesn’t play Cincinnati, we know the US Open isn’t gonna happen and he’s been away from the game for very, very long time.
“He’s got to be smart with it because the fact he’s got to get his volume up to a certain level and you don’t want to rush it back too much.
“The 12-day event in Cincinnati might actually help him because the fact that he can have a few more breaks in between matches, but this is still a huge question marks.
“It’s not like you’re playing a two-out-of-three major. So for the women’s, it’s a little bit easier because when you go into the majors, it’s like a regular week with a guaranteed day off every week is two out of three sets. To make the jump up to three out of five sets is tough for the men.
“From what I saw from that original video, I wasn’t thinking would play at the US Open, but we need him back in our sport and we’ll find out. Cincinnati, fingers crossed he’s back because we miss Carlos. I really hope he’s back in Cincinnati and healthy.”
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Rusedski went on to suggest Alcaraz was wise to use a wrist support when he accepted an official role to be part of the World Cup final.
Alcaraz had the task of bringing the trophy onto the pitch prior to kick-off, with Rusedski pointing out a role of that nature will force him to put his wrist in the line of fire.
“You gotta shake people’s hands a lot when you take on a tole like that at the World Cup,” he added. “If you have one person all of a sudden give you a big handshake, you’re gonna put that injury back in there. So I think it was clever that he had the tape on the World Cup.”
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