"Alcaraz was very lucky that he only played three sets in his debut"

Carlos Alcaraz returned to the courts, bringing with him the opinions of the tennis world. His great debut against Roman Saifullin at the US Open confirmed that his tennis is still there, his competitive hunger too, and that he just needs some match practice to regain his best level, although perhaps that won't happen in the last Grand Slam of the season. Nevertheless, the feelings he left upon his return were more than positive.

However, this is not everyone's opinion. For Greg Rusedski, former British number one, his debut was surprising, but it raised the question of how long the Spanish player's body can hold up. He also labeled as ‘luck’ the fact that he won his debut in three consecutive sets without apparent problems.

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Rusedski is cautious about Alcaraz's physical capacity at the US Open

“Well, what concerns us all, and what all the players and people have talked about, is that normally you start with best-of-three-sets matches,” said the 1997 US Open finalist. “Let’s be honest, he was very lucky that in his debut he only played three sets. If he had gone to four or five sets, it would have been a very physical match,” he pointed out in his podcast ‘Off Court With Greg Rusedski’.

In fact, he used the example of the shocking defeat of Novak Djokovic against Mariano Navone. A battle of over four hours in which the Serbian ended up crying, vomiting, and defeated. “Imagine if he faced someone like Navone, who played against Djokovic, who is like a human wall, runs all day, it’s impossible to break him. But Safiullin is sometimes unpredictable, he gets very nervous, and we see him miss balls he should have made, and the tension affects him.”

Rusedski reiterated his concerns about the Murcian's stamina: “This was the perfect debut for him. The test for Alcaraz will be when he is pushed to the limit in a very physical and long match that lasts four or five sets. Will his wrist hold up? Because he doesn’t have that kind of experience; you can train and practice as much as you want, but at the end of the day, you can’t replicate those five or six-hour matches that sometimes you have to play consecutively in Grand Slams.”

Back like he never left 🤎

Carlos Alcaraz defeats Safiullin in straight sets! pic.twitter.com/UakEeaeOqj

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 31, 2026

Despite his doubts, he also took the opportunity to praise Alcaraz's return four and a half months after his injury. "It was an impressive comeback; I can only praise him and his team for what they did in the first round."

But he returned to the main topic of his statement: “And the only question is: How is the wrist today? How will the wrist be in the next match? And can he maintain this level in a three-out-of-five set tournament? What surprises all of us is that most normal humans, and he is not, would start with best-of-three set tournaments  and play with a bit more caution, rather than saying: 'Here I am back in an important tournament, I’m going straight to the toughest test in tennis'”, concluded a Greg Rusedski pleased with the return of Carlos Alcaraz, but with a concern about his physical condition.
 

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, "Alcaraz tuvo mucha suerte de que en su debut solo jugara tres sets"