It was a year ago, in Indian Wells, where Carlos Alcaraz confirmed what was coming more than insinuating.
He had won his first title, the Umag ATP 250, in the summer of 2021.
He had outgrown the NextGen ATP Finals, where he passed over all his opponents.
And he had pushed Matteo Berrettini to the limit in the third round of the Australian Open.
But
it was in the Californian desert, where he exacted the toll from Rafael Nadal for a cracked rib
before losing in three sets in the semifinals, where the Murcian, still 18 years old, proclaimed to the entire world how much was to come.
Alcaraz returns to the first Masters 1000 of the season with a long way to go, in which there have been setbacks caused by injuries.
The return to Indian Wells is also his return to competition after being forced to stop again after damaging his right leg hamstring in the ATP 500 final in Rio de Janeiro against Cameron Norrie.
"For me, winning this tournament and being number 1 in the world again is an excellent goal
," he said yesterday at the press conference prior to the start of the tournament, in which he will face Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in his debut tomorrow.
succession of setbacks
The last few months of the champion of the last US Open, a tournament from which he catapulted himself as the youngest number 1 in history, have not been easy.
The abdominal injury against Holger Rune in the quarterfinals of Paris-Bercy, last November, knocked him out of the ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup Finals.
A new abdominal tear thwarted his comeback at the Australian Open.
Already recovered, his plan, interrupted by the mishap he suffered against Norrie, was to chain the tournaments in Buenos Aires, Rio, Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami.
He emerged champion at the ATP250 in Buenos Aires, but
ran aground after playing nine games in 14 days
after almost three months without competing.
«I feel fine.
Today [for this Thursday] I was able to train for the first time with some players, we played some points and I felt good.
A few days off have been good for me.
I feel that I am prepared, "he added in his appearance before the media in Indian Wells.
The conquest of the title would bring as an added reward the return to the top, after Novak Djokovic ended his first 20 weeks of reign with victory at the Australian Open.
Absent Rafael Nadal, who continues to be injured and without a date to reappear, and Novak Djokovic, who has not been allowed to enter the United States due to his refusal to be vaccinated against covid, the tournament is particularly open, with Daniil Medvedev,
winner consecutively in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai and undefeated in the last 14 games
, as one of the clearest candidates for victory.
Without Medevedev on the way
Alcaraz, who would not face the Russian until a hypothetical final, could have Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz, Taylor Fritz or Holger Rune on his way.
"There are great players in the box who have options to win the title, but I will also have mine," said the Spaniard, who said that "he is not at all worried" about physical problems.
Beyond the results obtained, the priority will be to be able to compete and leave behind the disturbing problems suffered since the last part of last year.
Immediately after Indian Wells, he will arrive in Miami, where he won his first Masters 1000 and began a formidable sequence that would include victories at the Conde de Godó and the Mutua Madrid Open.
No one doubts the quality of the tennis player from El Palmar and his consolidation among the elite.
The greatest reserves come from a body that has shown itself to be more vulnerable than one would expect in a 19-year-old player
.
Jaume Munar (Yibing Wu), Bernabé Zapata (Hugo Umbert) and Roberto Carballés (Taro Daniel) said goodbye at the outset, while Cristina Bucsa beat Katie Swan 7-6 (6) and 7-5 and will have as her next rival to the American Coco Gauff.
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tennis
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic