Alcaraz Returns to Winning Ways at US Open After 139-Day Injury Layoff

Carlos Alcaraz walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday evening for the first time in 139 days, ready to defend his US Open title after a wrist injury had kept him from competitive tennis since late March. The Spanish champion, a seven-time Grand Slam winner at just 23 years old, faced Roman Safiullin of Russia in the first round and won decisively, 6-4 6-4 6-4, in a match that felt less like a comeback and more like a homecoming.

The layoff had been long enough to reshape the sport around him. While Alcaraz sat out, Alexander Zverev claimed the French Open and Jannik Sinner won Wimbledon—two of the year's three major titles slipping away. But on Monday, with a compression sleeve on his right arm, Alcaraz reminded the crowd why he had held the top ranking. His forehand, that whippy, violent stroke that defines his game, produced 28 winners against Safiullin. Each one was met with a clenched fist and a cry of "vamos" toward his team. At one point, when he threaded a drop shot during his final service game, he lifted his fist to the sky and waved his arms at the crowd, demanding more noise. The energy was unmistakable—this was a player who had genuinely missed the thing he does.

"I missed the crowd, the energy, the competition—I missed everything," Alcaraz said in his on-court interview, smiling. "I'm just really, really happy that I was able to compete again." He spoke of wanting to enjoy every moment on court, to feel the energy from the people, and to let results follow naturally. Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, watching for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, noted that it looked as though every small victory was being celebrated—a sign, perhaps, of how much this return meant.

Yet the match also exposed what four months away does to an athlete. Alcaraz's serve, usually a weapon, misfired. He managed just two aces against five double faults, though he did land 68 percent of his first serves and won 66 percent of the points behind them. He acknowledged the weakness without making excuses, saying the serve was "the shot I was struggling with the most," though he suggested some of the slower deliveries were tactical choices to disrupt Safiullin's rhythm. More concerning to Alcaraz himself were the doubts that crept in during the match—questions about whether his body could sustain five sets, whether the layoff had cost him more than he realized. "There were some doubts in the match, I'm not going to lie," he admitted. "I've been thinking about 'am I going to last the best of five?'"

But the draw has opened up in ways that might ease his path forward. Jannik Sinner, the world number one, is absent with a knee problem. Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, suffered a shock first-round exit to Argentina's Mariano Navone on Sunday. Arthur Fils, the 10th seed and Cincinnati Masters champion, lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday. As the second seed, Alcaraz sits on the opposite side of the bracket from Alexander Zverev, the top seed and French Open champion, meaning they cannot meet until the final. The only top-10 player Alcaraz can face before the semi-finals is American Ben Shelton, who scraped past Tallon Griekspoor in a tense four-set match.

Alcaraz's next opponent is Jaime Faria of Portugal, ranked 72nd in the world—a far gentler test than what might have awaited him in a healthier draw. The Spaniard knows he needs more matches to find his rhythm, to rebuild the match fitness that four months cannot preserve. But on Monday, at least, he proved that the player who won seven majors before turning 24 is still in there, still hungry, still capable of making a crowd sing along to Michael Jackson between points. The serve will come back. The doubts will fade. For now, he is simply grateful to be back.