Alcaraz explains slow start against Arnaldi in Indian Wells: “I was nervous in the first set”

The world No 2 says his ankle held up well on his return to tournament action after suffering the injury in Rio last month

Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

Simon Cambers

March 9, 2024

Even the best players in the world are not impervious to good old fashioned nerves, no matter how many times they’ve been in a particular situation, or even when they’re the defending champion.

And Carlos Alcaraz admitted he was no different after overcoming a slow start to beat Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-1 in his first match at the Indian Wells Masters on Friday.

The important thing for the Spaniard was that he righted the ship quickly and in the second and third sets played the kind of tennis that has taken him to the very top of the game.

SO GOOD 😮❗@carlosalcaraz | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/EYtxHBDGX5
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 9, 2024

“I was nervous in the first set,” said the world No 2, who plays Felix Auger-Aliassime next. “That makes me, you know, in some points moving, let’s say, different or with less energy. But, yeah, in the second and the third set it was totally different.

“I stayed or I pulled away the match, and I tried to be myself with a lot of energy, hitting good shots, moving well. And, yeah, I think my game, my good game, came out when my energy is so high. I tried to do it at the beginning of the second set, and I think I did it pretty well. It helped me to stay at the good level, at the high intensity during the whole match.”

Ankle injury improving all the time

Alcaraz said the ankle injury he suffered in Rio last month continues to improve but said concerns about how it would react to the match situation were also perhaps responsible for part of the nerves.

“This (is a) really special tournament for me,” he said. “I want to do it well. Obviously this is the first match playing high intensity and I didn’t know how it’s gonna respond, the ankle. It was a lot of things coming to my mind. I couldn’t be focused 100 percent in the match, and, yeah, it made me getting a little bit nervous.

“I didn’t deal with the nerves very well in the first set, moving, let’s say, different, hitting the ball different. You know, my game is playing aggressive all the time. And try to, you know, stay calm and waiting for my chances. When you get nervous, you don’t think about it. You don’t hit the ball as good as you want. You don’t move as good as you want. I think that’s the big difference.”