MADRID, 16 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz returned to the courts this Wednesday after more than two months without being able to play due to various injuries and did so with a hard-fought victory against the Serbian Laslo Djere (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) in his debut in the tournament in Buenos Aires (Argentina), scoring for the ATP and which is played on clay.
The Murcian was injured in the abdominal area last November during the Masters 1,000 in Paris and had to put his successful season in 2022 prematurely and in 2023, due to a leg injury, he had not yet been able to play , missing the Australian Open and having to give up world number one.
103 days after his last match, the man from El Palmar needed two hours to get rid of Djere, who squeezed him above all in the second set of a match where, on the other hand, he was very solid in the first and third, in which dominated with great authority.
“I’ve played at a high level, but I have a lot of room for improvement. Returning to competition after four months without playing is difficult. The only way to get up to speed is by playing games, and I hope to get better in the next one”, Alcaraz wished after the meeting in statements collected by the ATP website.
The start of Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil was firm. He broke Djere’s serve very early and from the strength of his serve, with which he only lost three points, he didn’t have too much trouble and sealed the first set with another ‘break’.
The match seemed that it would not have much more emotion when the Spanish tennis player went 0-40 with 2-2 in the second set. However, Djere, who had previously enjoyed the first options from him to the rest, was not only able to save that situation but he repeated it with 3-3 and 4-4, in both cases with 15-40.
The Serbian clung to the track and prevented his rival from taking advantage of any of his eight balls from this break in a second sleeve that ended up taking. The Murcian, neither authoritative with his serve, also gave up many options and could not avoid going to a third set with a break when he served to equalize at five.
But the 19-year-old knew how to recover and recover the good feelings from the start of the match. He ‘armored’ his service again and a break in the first game gave him back all the confidence to close without further ado and meet another Serb, Dusan Lajovic.
“There have been several moments that I have not known how to manage. For example, I have had several ‘break’ points in the second set, but I have not known how to handle them in a good way, I have not known how to control myself, pause. That is what the competition gives you , the rhythm between points and on the point, that’s what I’m missing”, admitted the number two in the world.