Carlos Alcaraz scared his fans during his third-round match at the 2025 US Open after he requested a medical timeout.
It seems that only an injury could stop Alcaraz from reaching another US Open final this year. The Spaniard arrived in New York in top form, steamrolling past one opponent after another. He has already outplayed Reilly Opelka, Mattia Bellucci, and Luciano Darderi, losing only 10 games in his last two matches.
That's an average of 1.6 lost games per set, which just shows at what level the 22-year-old plays at the moment. But all of that could mean nothing if there was an injury preventing him from playing his best tennis.
Alcaraz won the first set of his match against Darderi, but when he was up 4-3 in the second set, he approached the umpire to request a physio. Up 5-4, a physio came to Alcaraz's bench, with the Spaniard then taking a medical timeout for an issue related to his right knee.
After his medical timeout, Alcaraz increased his level, winning all the remaining games in the match. The five-time major winner won the match 6-2, 6-4, 6-0, which in itself hinted that the medical timeout was just a scare.
Alcaraz himself confirmed this during an on-court interview after his match, stating that he felt something in his leg, but it disappeared after a few rallies, so his medical timeout was mostly precautionary.
"I’m feeling good, it was just a precaution that I asked for the physio. When he broke my serve, in the last point I felt something in the knee, but after five or six points it was gone. I just asked the physio to take care of the knee, so I had to be feeling good. I am going to talk to my team about it, but I’m feeling good."
Alcaraz admits he is not a fan of early starts
Alcaraz played the first match of the day on Arthur Ashe Stadium. He is not used to playing so early, so after his match, the Spanish player was asked whether he is a morning person. The 2022 US Open champion said the main challenge for him during the match was staying awake.
"I just tried to start awake, that was important. Starting at 11:30 a.m. is not a schedule that I’m used to playing, so my first goal is to start well, to start focused. I think I started really well, pushing him to the limit, playing long rallies, and after that kept it going."
"I’m not a [morning] person. For me, it’s difficult to wake up in the mornings, so that’s a good thing today that I woke up early, I did the warmup well, played good... It seems like I’m a Spanish guy!"
Alcaraz will use the extra time provided by the early start to his advantage, as he will want to recover from the injury scare, making sure that his body won't betray him in the remainder of the event.
He avoided one of the seeded opponents in the fourth round, as both Daniil Medvedev and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina lost early. Therefore, Alcaraz's next opponent will be Arthur Rinderknech, who beat Alexander Zverev at this year's Wimbledon.
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