Trepidation is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Carlos Alcaraz, but the swashbuckling Spanish world No 3 returned to the French Open this year in much the same vein he left it last summer: a bundle of nerves.
Overcome by tension during a semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic 12 months ago, when he was derailed by cramp, Alcaraz arrived in Paris this term as the bookmakers’ favourite, but with lingering concerns over the forearm injury that has dogged him for the past two months. On the eve of the tournament, he said he was no longer in pain, but remained “a little bit scared about hitting every forehand 100%”.
As Alcaraz opened his title challenge with an emphatic victory over JJ Wolf on Court Philippe Chatrier, however, he showed few signs of fear. As for pain, the only evidence of that was on Wolf’s side of the net, where the 25-year-old American, a lucky loser ranked 107 in the world, gave a creditable account of himself only to emerge on the wrong end of a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 hiding. Goodness knows what Alcaraz will do to his opponents once he really gets into his stride.
“I’m still feeling weird, let’s say, or afraid to hit every forehand at 100%,” said the Spaniard, who once again sported a compression sleeve on his lower right arm.
“It’s still in my mind, but I didn’t feel anything after the match, which is really good for me, so I can say it’s a full recovery.”
The 21-year-old’s only previous outings on European clay this spring came at the Madrid Open, where his title defence came to grief at the hands of Andrey Rublev. Alcaraz admitted in the aftermath of that quarter-final defeat that he had been thinking about his injury after every forehand, but there were few signs of him holding back against Wolf. The American’s afternoon began auspiciously when he spanked a pair of brutal returns to break in the opening game, but went rapidly downhill thereafter.
While Alcaraz’s forehand is the bedrock of his game, his variety is such that there will always be a fallback. Here, his weapon of choice was the backhand, which he repeatedly hammered low and true down the line, boldly stepping into the court to conjure changes of direction and velocity that invariably left Wolf standing. Yet there were plenty of other signature moves to enjoy, from delicate drop shots to 133mph first serves – and 21 winners off the forehand side.
“Everybody told me that I must go to 100% on every forehand, but I don’t feel as comfortable as before, just to play every forehand and forget my forearm,” said Alcaraz. “I’m trying to hit as many forehands as I can 100%, but there are a few of them that I want to stay easy, let’s say.”
That caution is at odds with the Spaniard’s somewhat laissez-faire approach to the details of his injury. He has cheerfully admitted that he did not pay too much heed to the outcome of medical tests, preferring instead to focus on what to do, rather than what was wrong, once he had been assured the problem was not serious. He has applied the same blithely unscientific approach to wearing a protective sleeve on his arm.
“My physio told me that it helps in a certain way,” said Alcaraz. “I don’t know which way, but he told me it helps.
“He told me that it is not necessary to wear the sleeve, but I wear it just in case, because everybody’s told me that it helps my mind in a certain way, just to try to forget everything in my forearm. That’s why I’m wearing this.”
Alcaraz will next face Jesper de Jong, a Dutch qualifier ranked 176 in the world, who defeated Britain’s Jack Draper 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 3-6, 6-3. Draper, ranked 35th, showed impressive resilience to claw his way back from two sets to love down, but struggled on serve and lacked conviction down the stretch.
British hopes were dealt a further blow in the night session, where Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, cruised past Andy Murray in straight sets. The 39-year-old Swiss prevailed 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, sharing a few words with his opponent at the net afterwards before applauding Murray, who may have played his last singles match at the French Open, as he waved a lingering farewell to Court Philippe Chatrier.