NEW YORK – The week leading up to the U.S. Open is the ultimate tennis buzz fest. And from party to party, corporate event to corporate event, no place is more about the state of Carlos Alcaraz’s right wrist.
Absent from the tour for 4 1/2 months, giving him a chance to step up with a major this summer after completing his career Grand Slam in Australia, Alcaraz decided against his return for the US Open without a belt under his belt on April 14.
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It was immediately great to watch.
Was he healthy and ready to compete? Was he under pressure to come to New York because of his long-term collaboration with rapper Travis Scott? Why are serving speeds so pedestrian in the mixed doubles event with Serena Williams?
But the moment Alcaraz took to the court Monday afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the only truth to report. And the truth is that the defending US Open champion is still The Truth.
For someone who hasn’t played for 139 days, Alcaraz’s 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Roman Safiullin was probably what everyone else in the lineup wanted to see. If it’s already this good, what kind of shape is it going to be a little less than two weeks from now?
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“The tennis is going to be better for sure,” Alcaraz said in an interview on his court. “I’m happy with the level I played. Really proud of it, but I need more matches under my belt. I need to get back into the rhythm of the tournaments again and after every day I’m going to be better and better. I am very proud of my heart. I was able to deal with everything with nerves and doubts in my head and hold it back.”
Carlos Alcaraz and Travis Scott on Day Two of the 2026 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Monday, August 31, 2026 in Flushing, NY.
(Michael Mooneye via Getty Images)
Alcaraz will certainly go back through what happened on Monday and find moments where he didn’t choose the right shot or didn’t perform to high standards. But what was more important was that they showed all the ideas of Alcaraz’s games: his side movements, his touch in the net, some winning rounds from impossible places and a bunch of wrist bands that suggest a strong and strong wrist after all.
For most players, a comeback like that after a long injury would not be physically possible, especially in the Grand Slam he plays in the form of a best-five set. In fact, Alcaraz looked at custom in a certain way – even if he didn’t feel that way.
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“It was a tough day for me, to be honest, but really beautiful at the same time,” he said. “I started the day really, really nervous, thinking, ‘I’m going to compete again.’ More nervous than usual.”
Alcaraz was right to have some doubts, especially against an opponent like Safiullin. Although in number only n. 99 in the world, he has a serious and high-level game that can be dangerous for top players. If Alcaraz was too rusty, Safiullin could have been one of a few potential first-round matchups.
As it turned out, the only time Alcaraz even looked upset at all was early in the second set when Safiullin broke his serve. But Alcaraz did not want to accept it for long. And while the military’s speeds were indeed lower than usual – he delivered some in the range of twenty-five, but more often by two marks lower than that – Alcaraz said that his wrist was pain-free and slower serving the imperial choice because of the adversary.
“I felt great,” he said. “I don’t know how it looked from the outside. But my feeling was that I was hitting right. I was playing in a normal style and in the arm, in the joint, everything felt great. So obviously I still have concerns, but in the end it’s pain free.”
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Alcaraz could not be injured at the moment but said that it was not a problem before Otto Virtanen played in the first round for Barcelona. He withdrew from the tournament after Virtanen struck a common inflammation in the tendon sheath.
Wrist injuries are always scary for tennis players. In recent decades, Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem are two examples of players who were never quite the same after wrist problems. Even with the advances in modern medicine, you don’t want to do surgery on an area of the body unless absolutely necessary.
Suffering from missing the French Open and Wimbledon, tournaments he won twice each, Alcaraz was lucky to only need rest from his injury.
Deciding to play in the U.S. Open, Alcaraz and his medical team decided that he should rest enough. The way he played Monday suggests that if Alcaraz doesn’t win the title here, it won’t be because the injury is still bothering him.
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“My goal here is to compete, to enjoy, and let’s see how my body will react after the match,” he said. “I don’t know how far I’m going to go in the tournament. I didn’t know if I was going to lose this, if I made it to the second round, the last one. I don’t know. But what I want to do for sure is to enjoy every time that I’m going to walk into the hall, feeling the power from the people, feeling the tension. The result is I’m going to come, like today.”