Not a lot can cease Carlos Alcaraz as of late, however a bothersome proper knee prompted a scare throughout Friday’s third-round match on the U.S. Open.
The Spanish famous person referred to as a medical timeout and obtained a go to from the physiotherapist through the second set of his 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Italy’s Luciano Darderi at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The quick stoppage occurred after Alcaraz took a 5-4 lead. He had led that set, 4-1, earlier than dropping three consecutive video games, together with one by which Darderi broke his serve.
“The game that he broke my serve, on the last point after the serve, the first step, I just felt something in the knee,” Alcaraz mentioned.
“After five, six points, it was gone. I was worried after that. That’s why I asked for the physio, but it was nothing serious, so just for precaution. After that, I didn’t feel it anymore.”
That proved to be the largest adversity Alcaraz would face.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz didn’t lose one other recreation Friday and is now headed to the fourth spherical, the place he’s set to face Arthur Rinderknech on Sunday.
Alcaraz, the world’s second-ranked males’s participant, nonetheless has not dropped a set on this 12 months’s match at Flushing Meadows.
He wanted solely an hour and 44 minutes to get rid of Darderi, regardless of the match beginning at 11:30 a.m., a lot sooner than Alcaraz’s customary primetime slot.
“I just went to bed at 11, 11:15. That for me is really weird, to be honest, which I am really proud about,” Alcaraz mentioned with a smile. “I just woke at 7 in the morning just to be ready to warm up well, feeling awake, and feeling good. So it was an unusual time for me, but at the same time it’s good, because I’m already done with everything.”
The Open stays a particular occasion for Alcaraz, who received the match in 2022 for his first Grand Slam title. That victory made Alcaraz, who was simply 19 on the time, the youngest man to high the ATP rankings.
However Alcaraz suffered a second-round upset finally 12 months’s Open, shedding in straight units to 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp.
Alcaraz has acknowledged the considered final 12 months’s stunner caught with him, however he’s appeared as centered as ever via three rounds this 12 months.
Sporting a pink equipment and a shaved head after his brother botched his haircut, Alcaraz delivered 9 aces, received seven of 18 break factors and dedicated solely 12 unforced errors Friday. The Thirty second-seeded Darderi by no means led by even a recreation as Alcaraz repeatedly demonstrated his elite physique management and ingenuity to increase rallies and end powerful photographs.
“I’m just trying not to do the same things as last year,” Alcaraz mentioned. “Trying to improve and do things much better. Every time that I step on the court, I’m just locked in since the first point until the last one. Yeah, I’m taking last year as motivation coming into this year to be more hungry, ambitious to do great things here. This is a place that I love playing.”
Alcaraz seeks the sixth Grand Slam title of his profession and his second of 2025 after beating top-ranked Jannik Sinner within the French Open ultimate in June.
Sinner, 24, and Alcaraz have mixed to win the final seven Grand Slam tournaments and eight of the final 9. This 12 months’s Open may turn into the third consecutive Grand Slam match by which Alcaraz and Sinner meet within the ultimate.
They’ve solely confronted one another on the Open as soon as earlier than, when Alcaraz defeated Sinner within the 2022 quarterfinal.
“[Since] that match, people have talked about our rivalry,” Alcaraz mentioned Friday. “And I think from that match, our rivalry had a place in tennis history. It’s just great, and thanks to that match, I grew up a lot.”
Initially Printed: August 29, 2025 at 3:35 PM EDT
