{"id":91226,"date":"2025-09-26T13:16:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=91226"},"modified":"2025-09-26T13:16:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:16:26","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-injury-update-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/09\/26\/carlos-alcaraz-injury-update-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz Injury Update: World No. 1 Still a Doubt for Tokyo Second Round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"170\" data-end=\"350\">World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz may have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/09\/25\/carlos-alcaraz-injury-scare-tokyo-debut-seeds-struggle\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">advanced to the Tokyo Round of 16<\/a>, but concerns linger after the Spaniard suffered an ankle scare in his opening match against Sebastian Baez.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"665\" data-end=\"896\">Alcaraz won 6-4 6-2 on Thursday, yet the match turned tense midway through the first set. He collapsed to the court, clutching his left ankle in what appeared to be a non-contact fall, sparking fears of a sprain or muscle injury.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"898\" data-end=\"1123\">Medical staff rushed to his side. After receiving a timeout and heavy strapping, he continued to play and closed out the victory. Even so, his movement was clearly restricted, particularly when covering the backhand corner.<\/p>\n<p>After the match, Alcaraz admitted just how frightening the moment was. \u201cI was scared, I\u2019m not going to lie. When I planted the ankle, I was worried, because it didn\u2019t feel good at the beginning,\u201d he told reporters. The Spaniard, usually brimming with energy and emotion, looked subdued on court, clearly feeling the effects of the injury even as he sealed the win.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cI was scared, I\u2019m not gonna lie. I felt my ankle and it didn\u2019t feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz on the first-set injury scare<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/kinoshitajotennis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#kinoshitajotennis<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8VLD6n56D0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/8VLD6n56D0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tennis TV (@TennisTV) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/1971175343365984678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4 data-start=\"1605\" data-end=\"1633\">No Training on Friday<\/h4>\n<p data-start=\"945\" data-end=\"1260\">Twenty-four hours later, the discomfort has not subsided. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/tenis\/2025\/09\/26\/alcaraz-sigue-dolor-decide-entrenar-viernes-octavos-tokio.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MARCA<\/a>, Alcaraz continues to experience pain and has decided to skip training on Friday in order to rest the ankle fully. He has placed himself under the care of his trusted physiotherapist, Juanjo Moreno, and will wait until matchday to test his condition.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"945\" data-end=\"1260\">Tournament organizers have scheduled his second-round match against Belgian Zizou Bergs for Saturday\u2019s night session at the Ariake Coliseum, roughly 7:00 p.m. local time in Tokyo. Bergs, known for his aggressive baseline play, could prove a tricky opponent if Alcaraz enters the match at less than full fitness. The scheduling gives the Spaniard additional hours of rest, but whether that will be enough remains uncertain.<\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"_p4aMGHMQMhIylMNe9bV-Q\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2237314349\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'_p4aMGHMQMhIylMNe9bV-Q',sig:'o5mDy64V6x2sJ6DHvfMEJhWUcVz0itD_4-SmpZzxUPY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2237314349',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1262\" data-end=\"1434\">The timing of this injury is particularly concerning. Alcaraz is entering one of the most <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/09\/14\/where-will-alcaraz-play-remaining-2025-schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">decisive stretches of the season<\/a>, with the No. 1 ranking on the line. With rival Jannik Sinner closing the gap in the rankings, every tournament counts. A prolonged setback could tilt the race for year-end supremacy in the Italian\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2961\" data-end=\"3128\">For now, Alcaraz\u2019s status for Saturday remains uncertain. His left ankle will decide whether or not he steps on court against Bergs.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz may have advanced to the Tokyo Round of 16, but concerns linger after the Spaniard suffered an ankle scare in his opening match against Sebastian Baez. Alcaraz won 6-4 6-2 on Thursday, yet the match turned tense midway through the first set. He collapsed to the court, clutching his left [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5608,"featured_media":80059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,9],"tags":[5729,13328,12932],"class_list":["post-91226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-sebastian-baez","tag-zizou-bergs"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5608"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91226"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91251,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91226\/revisions\/91251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}