Carlos Alcaraz overcome an injury scare to beat Sebastian Baez on his debut at the Japan Open in Tokyo on Thursday, September 25.
When the score in the first set was tied at 2-2, Alcaraz twisted his ankle on the hard court.
After getting medical attention and having his ankle tightly bandaged, he continued playing and managed to break his opponent's serve, taking 5-4 lead.
Despite his coaching team suggesting he should quit due to injury, Alcaraz refused to give up and went on to win the match 6-4, 6-2 even after a rain delay.
After winning the match, Alcaraz shared his thoughts about the injury, “I was scared too, I’m not going to lie. When I landed on the ankle, I was worried to be honest because it didn’t feel good at the beginning," as per The Independent.
The 22-year-old went on to share, “I’m just happy that I was able to play after that and play such good tennis. Let’s see. I think it’s not going to be easy the next day and a half for me. I will try to recover, to do whatever it takes to be ready for the next round."
Alcaraz said the injury was "unlucky" and he would have felt bad if he had been forced to quit and not play for the fans, so he focused on staying positive.
Now, Alcaraz is expected to have a medical scan to check the extent of his ankle injury.
The player will now face either Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo or Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the second round of the tournament.
