Alcaraz after his winning comeback at the US Open: “It’s pain-free finally, and prevention is always good, I guess”
Carlos Alcaraz played his first match in four and a half months on Monday and beat Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 without dropping a set, the defending champion’s eighth consecutive win at Flushing Meadows. The wrist held, but what unsettled him was smaller than that: he says he stood in the warm-up unable to remember his own routine, having forgotten what a match day looks like.
Carlos Alcaraz, US Open 2026 | © Zuma / PsNewz
Carlos Alcaraz spoke at the 2026 US Open after beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in his first match in four and a half months. The defending champion on his wrist being pain-free, the nerves of a first match back, his slower serve, Novak Djokovic’s first-round exit, and how far he expects to go.
It is one thing to talk about coming back and feeling good in practice. What was going through your head when you actually got out there?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: I was trying to enjoy as much as I can and trying not to think about anything else. But it’s easy to say, difficult to do. Once you step on the court, playing an official match, playing the first round, obviously you want to win. You don’t know what’s going to happen in the match. After four months and a half almost, you don’t know what’s going to happen in your body, in your mind, everything. It’s totally different. I just tried to play one game at a time and to feel good, to enjoy playing points, feeling the love from the people. After the match, my body felt great. I’m just really, really happy that I made it finally.
You said you started the day really, really nervous. What did you mean by that?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: It was a difficult day for me, to be honest, but at the same time a really beautiful one. Starting the day really nervous. Really, really nervous. Thinking, like, “I’m going to make it, I’m going to compete again”. I had more nerves than usually. It’s kind of, I forgot how match day looks like. I was warming up, and I don’t remember actually what I used to do in the warm-up. So it was kind of get the feeling again. That’s why I was really nervous. And obviously, because I didn’t know what’s gonna happen on the court, not having that for granted is kind of difficult feeling. That’s why I was really nervous, because kind of I just forgot the competition.
Are you completely pain-free in the wrist now? Do you still have to strap it?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: It’s pain-free right now. I felt great. I don’t know how it looked from outside, but from inside, my feeling was that I was hitting normal. I was playing pretty normal, playing my style, and the arm, the wrist, everything felt great. I’m going to still take care of it, obviously, these days and before the matches and everything, but I’m just really happy it’s pain-free finally. Prevention is always good, I guess.
Do you know the specifics of the injury, when it happened and what it was?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: Not really. I just felt something on the wrist. I knew the point, obviously, where in the wrist. But nothing more than that. It was more serious than we thought at the beginning, and that’s it. The first time I felt it was in Barcelona, yeah.
My goal here is to compete, to enjoy, and let’s see how my body’s going to react after the matches
Your serve looked a little slower than we’re used to. How does that shot feel?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: Probably the serve is the shot that I was struggling the most. It depends on the player I’m going to play against. There are some players who like to return when the serve is coming over 130 miles, and when you serve a little bit slower than they want to return, they struggle a little bit. So most of that speed is because of him. It was kind of tactics. But who knows. I’m gonna try to serve better. The point is going to try to serve normal, but it’s like a shot that I just always struggle with, I guess. But it will be back, for sure.
How far do you think you can go here?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: For me, my goal here is to compete, to enjoy, and let’s see how my body’s going to react after the matches, after the competition again. I don’t know how far I’m gonna go in the tournament. I didn’t know if I was going to lose this one, if I’m going to make the second round, final. I don’t know how far I’m going to go. But what I just really want to do is enjoy every time that I’m gonna walk onto the court, feeling the energy from the people, feel the competition, walking up, thinking, all right, it’s match day. That’s what I’m gonna do this tournament. The results, it’s going to come after all. So that’s why I enjoyed so much today, and it wasn’t a surprise for me, because I came here to enjoy.
Novak Djokovic went out in the first round, in your half of the draw. Did you watch it, and were you surprised?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: I saw the fifth set. Obviously it was the first time that Novak lose in the first round here in this tournament. So it’s a big surprise, to be honest. Someone like Novak going out of the tournament in the first round, it’s surprising. But here, every Grand Slam is really difficult to get through every round, every player. It’s really tough. You have to earn the win since the first ball until the last one. He was in my part of the draw but it was in the semis. For me, the semis is too far away, so I just try to be round by round.
You have won with the long hair now. Are you keeping it?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: In the tournament, I’m going to keep it long for sure. Then I don’t know. Once I start with a hairstyle or something, I just have to keep it until the tournament is finished.
