US Open Media Day - Alcaraz reassures … he’s ready!

**Catherine Whitaker** (0:10)
Hello, and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, coming to you from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, less than 48 hours out from the start of the 2026 US Open. I'm Catherine Whitaker, alongside me are David Law and Matt Roberts, and together we are The Tennis Podcast, bringing you daily shows right the way through until the end of the tournament in 17 days time. We're coming to you today from a little spot behind the practice court, so the thwack of balls in the background is coming from various players who are out on court at the moment having a sort of twilight hitting session at six o'clock in the evening right now, and one of those is Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who we've just been watching from about honestly ten feet away pretty much, hitting with Ben Shelton, both of whom we got the chance to speak to as part of Media Day earlier on today where all the top players come through the media conference rooms and take questions from assorted media and TV networks. Alcaraz was understandably the most anticipated player of those that came for Media Day today for obvious reasons. It's been four and a half months since anybody's got the chance to speak to him. For most of us, it's been since Australia in January that we got the chance to speak to him. Last time I saw him in the flesh was boarding the flight home from Melbourne to Doha, and then he was going on to Madrid. So fantastic to get to speak to him, fantastic to get that experience just now of seeing him practice and Matt to kind of map out everything that he had told us in the press conference room about where he's at with his game and his comeback, kind of map it out on to the, well, on to what we just saw right now in terms of the forehands and the backhands.

**Matt Roberts** (2:04)
Yeah, it's an incredible vantage point that we get there next to practice court one and, you know, it was very much going through the motions in that practice session. I think they're actually now playing points. I can hear a lot more squeaking of shoes and grunting than when we were out there. It was all pretty low intensity, but yeah, really interesting to hear from him in the press conference and I thought generally quite encouraging. First thing I would say is one thing he's been doing over the last few months is practicing his English. My goodness, he's speaking so fluently now. When he said the words intrusive thoughts, I think he was pleased with himself for getting that expression right in English. It was fantastic.
And he said that.

**Catherine Whitaker** (2:52)
Yeah, because he spent five months doing duolingo.

**Matt Roberts** (2:55)
And he said that because he was talking about how he can compare coming back from this injury to 2024 when he had the forearm injury that was a big part of his Netflix documentary. And he talked about how he was struggling to trust it. And even though his coaches were telling him it was fine, he wasn't fully there. And we saw some struggles that he had during that clay court season before he got to Roland Garros. And okay, I don't think he ever played his best tennis at that Roland Garros, but he won the title. And he was talking about how helpful that experience has been for him because he has been feeling similar things. It has been, he said, in his head that the wrist injury is there as much as everyone's telling him it's fine and it is feeling fine, which was great to hear.
It is an obstacle for him to overcome. So, you know, I was very encouraged by the fact that he's feeling physically fine. And I think my expectations are that the first match and if he wins it, maybe the first few matches, there might be some doubt, there might be some ups and downs in those matches as he, as he rides this comeback and tries to get out of his own head. But basically, what I wanted to hear was that the wrist is feeling fine. And we heard that and that is just great news.

**Catherine Whitaker** (4:15)
Yeah, he confirmed no technical changes. He said, if I, if I needed technical changes to be here, I wouldn't be here, which big picture was very reassuring, I think. I didn't hear anything to indicate it's not going to be a very rocky ride early on. I think, I think the Roman Sabulin match is going to be fun. I think, hold on to your hats. And I think for a round or two beyond that, if he gets there, it could be fun. But I also think, if he can get there and grow in confidence in that wrist, there's time for him to grow into this tournament, potentially. I found it, I found it a very illuminating press conference, David.