Rio Open 2024: Carlos Alcaraz Retires Hurt After Twisting Right Ankle During First-Round Match

The score was at 1-1 in the first set when Carlos Alcaraz had to retire hurt in his round of 32 match against Brazil's Thiago Monteiro at the Rio Open 2024. The Spaniard later said he does feel pain when he walks and that he will have medical scans later

Outlook Sports Desk

Updated on: 21 February 2024 2:49 pm

Carlos Alcaraz reacts after missing a point during his Argentina Open 2024 ATP semi-final tennis match against Nicolas Jarry at the Guillermo Vilas Stadium in Buenos Aires. Photo: AP/Gustavo Garello

Giving coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and his fans cause for concern, tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz retired hurt at the Rio Open 2024 after twisting his right ankle during a first-round match against Brazil's Thiago Monteiro. (More Tennis News)

Alcaraz had to concede the match after playing just two games, which meant Monteiro progressed to the second round. The Brazilian will take on his compatriot Felipe Meligeni Alves for a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 clay court tournament.

Alcaraz twisted his ankle in the very first game after just two points. He got medical attention, broke Monteiro's serve, but after the Brazilian drew level, the 20-year-old Spaniard shook his rival's hand and walked off the court as his coach Ferrero looked on worriedly.

ALSO READ: Prefer Olympic Gold To Grand Slam - Alcaraz

Alcaraz later said his doctors told him the injury was not serious. “These things happen, even more so on clay,” the world number 2 said. “It was not a problem of the court, I got injured as I switched direction. That happens in this kind of surface.”

Just so unfortunate…

After rolling his ankle two points into the match, Carlos Alcaraz retires at 1-1 in his Rio opener against Thiago Monteiro.

Get well soon, @carlosalcaraz - the tide will turn 💛 pic.twitter.com/kNjjbBqzz4
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 21, 2024

The two-time major winner said he does feel pain when he walks and that he will have medical scans later. “I came back to the game to see whether I could carry on or not. I spoke to the physio on the court and we decided together I should continue to see if this would get better. It didn't happen, so we chose to be careful and abandon due to precaution," he said.

Monteiro said it was strange to progress after playing so little time against Alcaraz. “On the court it didn't look so serious, but then I saw it in the big screen and it was a bad twist. Now I can only cheer for him to recover, he is a star, a dominant one in the new generation," the Brazilian said.

Alcaraz was the runners-up at the Rio Open last year, and its winner in 2022. The ankle injury adds to the tennis prodigy's below-par performances at the Argentina Open last week. The 20-year-old, who won the title in 2023, was vanquished by Chile's Nicolas Jarry in the semi-finals in Buenos Aires.

(With AP inputs)