Carlos Alcaraz might have declared himself fit to play at the upcoming Indian Wells Open, but how worrying is his ankle injury really?
We've never seen Alcaraz injured as badly as his ankle injury at the Rio Open recently looked. He was playing against native player Thiago Monteiro and suffered an ankle roll that left him in visible pain.
He would try to play afterward but it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't be able to do so, so he retired from the match. It looked really bad initially and his Sunshine Double looked doubtful but Alcaraz would quickly calm down everybody explaining that it wasn't as bas it initially looked.
He did the tests in Rio de Janeiro, and the news seemed to be very positive. He should be good to go at the Indian Wells Open, but he will play even before that at the Netflix Slam against Rafael Nadal.
Does that mean everything is well? It should, but an expert on the topic also had a say. Tuttosport interviewed Italian Sports Medicine expert Angelo Bertelli, who analyzed the injury.
"I saw the injury and the ankle immediately swelled, a symptom of an effusion, since we're talking about days off, I don't think it's an injury of 2nd degree because in that case he would have also had to miss Indian Wells and Miami. We are talking about athletes with trained and strong muscles and this certainly helps."
In his mind Alcaraz should be fine judging by his choices to play in Indian Wells. The Spaniard did initially say that it was ruled a grade 2 but that's impossible according to the doctor, because he wouldn't have been playing at those events if that was the case.
We'll certainly find out in a few minutes after the Spanish player steps on the court, as his top level is easily recognizable.
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