PARIS — PARIS (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz took a medical timeout for what he said is a lingering groin muscle issue in the second set of his 6-1, 7-6 (3) singles victory over Tallon Griekspoor at the Paris Olympics on Monday night.
Alcaraz is scheduled to play doubles for Spain with Rafael Nadal on Tuesday — and the opponents happen to be the Dutch pair of Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof.
It’s a pain that I’ve been dealing with. I know what I have to do … to deal with this pain,” said Alcaraz, a 21-year-old who won the French Open at Roland Garros, the same site being used for Olympics tennis, last month, and Wimbledon this month.
“I will try to recover as soon and as (best) as I can tonight,” he said, “to be ready … 100 percent tomorrow in my doubles.”
Alcaraz said he watched part of Nadal’s 6-1, 6-4 loss to Novak Djokovic in singles earlier Monday, before preparing to face Griekspoor.
“When Djokovic is playing at this level, it’s really, really difficult to play against him. Really aggressive, no mistakes, moving very, very well,” Alcaraz said. “I saw Rafa playing decent, let’s say. Not his best tennis, for sure. But when Djokovic is like this, he’s almost unbeatable.”
