Carlos Alcaraz returned to Indian Wells with a win against Italian Matteo Arnaldi and after the match he said he felt "surprised" for not having felt any discomfort in the ankle injury that made him leave the Rio Open just a few days ago: I felt very well, I have moved normally and thanks to that I could play well".
The Spaniard lost the first set to Arnaldi and says it was due to his lack of adaptation to the conditions, as he has been training during the day during his stay in California and the match was in the night session:
"I've been training during the day here, not at night, so it's a bit complicated to play the night session. It's very different conditions and I had to adapt."
After losing the first set, he raised his level of play and ended up destroying his opponent, allowing him to win only 2 games in the last two sets of the match. This is what he said in a press conference about it:
"In the first set, I was playing very well, a break up, serving, playing good tennis. (I made) some mistakes that I didn't want to make. After the first set I had to change my mentality a little bit and put more balls on the court, run a little bit more and try to get into a rhythm. I think I got it in the end.
Carlos Alcaraz's next opponent in Indian Wells will be Felix Auger-Aliassime. He will have to raise the level of his backhand if he wants to avoid problems against the Canadian.
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.