Carlos Alcaraz Triumphs in US Open Return
Carlos Alcaraz walked back into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night like a man reclaiming his stage, not just defending a title.
One hundred and thirty-nine days after his last singles win, the seven-time major champion returned from a troublesome wrist injury and brushed aside Roman Safiullin 6-4 6-4 6-4, launching his US Open defence with a performance that was part statement, part celebration.
The show resumes
Compression sleeve on his right arm, trademark swagger intact, Alcaraz wasted little time reminding New York what it had been missing. The forehand – that whippy, violent lash that has already become one of the sport’s defining shots – was back in full colour, accounting for most of his 28 winners.
From the stands, it looked like a player easing his way into a fortnight. From his side of the net, it felt like freedom.
"I felt great. I don't know how it looked from outside, but from inside, my feeling was that I was hitting normal," he said. "I was playing pretty normal, playing my style, and everything felt great."
Every clean strike came with the familiar clenched fist and a barked “vamos” towards his team. This wasn’t a tentative comeback. It was a player feeding off the noise, demanding more of it.
He had spent the summer watching Alexander Zverev lift the French Open and Jannik Sinner take Wimbledon. On Monday, he finally stepped out of the role of spectator.
"I missed the crowd, the energy, the competition – I missed everything," Alcaraz said, smiling through his on-court interview. "I'm just really, really happy that I was able to compete again."
Joy, not just relief
If there were nerves, they hid behind the grin.
At one changeover he sang along to Michael Jackson drifting over the loudspeakers, shoulders loose, eyes bright. During his final service game, after finishing a lung-busting rally with a feathered drop shot, he punched the air, pointed to his ear and waved his arms, demanding more volume from a crowd already roaring.
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, watching on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, noted that it looked as if “every little win” was being savoured. It showed.
"What I really want to do is enjoy every time that I'm going to walk into the court, feeling the energy from the people," Alcaraz said. "That's what I'm going do this tournament. The results, it's going to come after all."
He paused, then underlined the point.
"That's why I enjoyed so much today, and it wasn't a surprise for me, because I came here to enjoy."
The message was clear: after four months staring at the sport from the outside, joy comes first, results second. For now.
Flaws under the gloss
Strip away the emotion and the numbers still tell a story of a player not yet at full throttle.
The serve, so often a platform for his aggression, lagged behind the rest of his game. Just two aces, five double faults. The radar wasn’t quite locked in, even if the foundations were solid: 68% of first serves in, and 66% of points won behind them.
"The serve is the shot I was struggling [with] the most," he admitted. He also revealed that some of the reduced pace was by design, a tactical tweak to unsettle Safiullin. "I'm going try to serve better. The point is going to try to serve normal, but it's a shot that I just always struggle [with]. But it will be back, for sure."
Physically, he moved with the elasticity that has already become his calling card, sliding, sprinting, stopping dead to carve drop shots that died on the surface. Yet even here, doubts had crept in before he stepped on court.
"There were some doubts in the match, I'm not going to lie," he said. "I've been thinking about 'am I going to last the best of five, am I going to last playing four sets, five sets?'"
On this evidence, he lasted just fine. The real test will come when the rallies grow heavier and the nights longer.
"I need more matches under the belt to get again into the rhythm of the tournament," he added. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to get better and better every day."
A draw quietly opening
For a first assignment, world number 99 Safiullin was solid, dangerous in patches, but ultimately outgunned. Stiffer resistance lies ahead than Portugal’s Jaime Faria, ranked 72, who awaits in the second round.
Yet the landscape around Alcaraz has shifted in the past 48 hours.
World number one Jannik Sinner, the man who has traded blows with him for the sport’s future, is absent with a knee problem. Novak Djokovic, 24-time Grand Slam champion and perennial New York shadow, is gone too, stunned in the first round by Mariano Navone.
Just like that, the draw feels different.
As second seed, Alcaraz sits on the opposite side to top seed and French Open champion Alexander Zverev. The earliest they can collide is the final. The other supposed danger in his half, French 10th seed Arthur Fils – fresh from winning the Cincinnati Masters and touted as a live title threat – fell on Monday to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The only top-10 opponent Alcaraz can face before the semi-finals is Ben Shelton, the explosive American who might yet loom in the quarter-finals. On paper, the path has cleared. On court, five-set tennis has a way of ripping up paper.
For now, Alcaraz has his first win in 139 days, his wrist holding up, his forehand firing, his smile back under the New York lights. The defending champion has returned to his stage.
The question now is whether this is just a joyful comeback, or the start of another run that ends with him holding the trophy again in the city that already feels like his second home.
