"I was thinking about it all the time": Carlos Alcaraz had ankle injury constantly on the brain and couldn't practice to high intensity ahead of Indian Wells

Carlos Alcaraz admitted that he couldn't train normally in Indian Wells before his triumph over Matteo Arnaldi (6-7, 6-0, 6-1). The defending champion showcased good physical condition, considering a highly competitive first set from the Italian, who pushed his opponent to the maximum.

After a closely contested first set in which Arnaldi took the advantage in the tie-break, the world No. 40 couldn't keep up with Alcaraz. The latter outplayed him tactically and physically in the following sets, advancing to the third round.

The preparations for the 2-times Grand Slam champion weren't easy before making his debut at the Tennis Paradise. Alcaraz suffered an injury during the South American Golden Swing when he had to withdraw in the first round of the Rio Open after playing only two games against local player Thiago Monteiro.

There were doubts about Alcaraz's participation in the Sunshine Double due to ankle problems. Although the 2-times Grand Slam champion performed well at the beginning of his title defense, he emphasized that he continued training carefully due to his injury:

"I'm coming here with not too many matches. I think last year I came here with more matches in my bag with more rhythm. Now I'm recovering from injury on the ankle. I was thinking about it all the time and I couldn't practise as much as I wanted, with the high intensity," the world No. 2 said.

According to Alcaraz himself, he wasn't sure how his ankle would respond in an official match of high intensity and was nervous during the first set to avoid any unexpected injury:

"But right now I'm getting better and feeling really, really well. But I think I have to get a good rhythm step by step. I think that's the big difference between last year and this one."

"This [is a] really special tournament for me. I want to do it well. This is the first match playing high intensity and I didn't know how it's going respond, the ankle. [There were] a lot of things coming to my mind. I couldn't be focused 100 per cent in the match and it made me get a little bit nervous," Alcaraz concluded.

His next challenge in Indian Wells will be against the 31st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who comes off a victory over Constant Lestienne (6-4, 6-1).