Steve Johnson thinks Carlos Alcaraz’s choice to ditch the Golden Swing for the onerous tournaments might have been influenced by the harm he sustained in Rio de Janeiro final yr.
In his first couple of seasons on the Tour, the Spaniard most popular to go to South America after the Australian Open and play a few clay tournaments.
However this yr, the world No. 3 is taking part in in Rotterdam for the primary time in his profession and he’s additionally slated to play in Doha, which begins on February seventeenth.
Carlos Alcaraz© ABN AMRO Open/Instagram – Truthful Use
Final yr, Alcaraz was upset by Nicolas Jarry within the Buenos Aires semifinal earlier than rolling his ankle and struggling an harm proper firstly of his Rio de Janeiro opener towards Thiago Monteiro.
That harm almost ruined the Netflix Slam and the 21-year-old Las Vegas exhibition that was deliberate for March third.
Johnson on Alcaraz deciding towards taking part in clay occasions in February
“Maybe he has a little mental scar tissue. He did roll his ankle last year, so maybe that’s on his mind, and he doesn’t want to get hurt again,” the previous four-time ATP champion stated on the Nothing Main Podcast.
“That’d be a silly reason not to go, but for him, it just doesn’t matter.”
After sharing his ideas on the matter, Johnson additionally famous that Alcaraz’s choice to not play the Golden Swing this yr was made months earlier.
“He picked his schedule a yr in the past when these tournaments negotiate look charges, so it’s not like he selected to go to Rotterdam six weeks in the past when the deadline was up,” the previous American tennis participant defined.
“This was planned long before—he had already decided to do this swing instead of the Golden Swing in South America.”
In the meantime, Alcaraz loved an excellent week in Rotterdam as he ended up successful the title after beating Alex de Minaur within the closing.
