Alcaraz: "In the future, I will take breaks of one or two months; it's impossible to play all the time"
The Spanish player spoke after his victory over Faria in the second round of the US Open: “I am happy to have been able to play good tennis throughout the four sets.”
Carlos Alcaraz continues to make us rub our eyes. He did it in his debut at the US Open against Roman Safiullin and again in his second match against Jaime Faria. It seems like he never left because his shots, his hunger, and his character remain intact. And most importantly, his physical condition is also intact. Against the Portuguese, he had to push a little harder, but he responded perfectly to seal the victory 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.
For this reason, in the press conference following his victory, he was very happy with his performance, pleased that he was able to play a four-set match and that his body did not suffer. But he sent a clear message to the tennis authorities: he will not take a four-month break due to this injury, but he will take one or two months off.
Alcaraz was satisfied with his victory over Faria at the US Open
“To be honest, I wanted it to be quick. I won’t lie. But in the end, I realized that playing four sets was really good for me, to test everything physically, to see how my body responds, how I feel, and how I will feel tomorrow after this match, after four sets. I’m happy to have played good tennis throughout all four sets, but obviously, being the second match of the night, I wanted it to be faster.”
Alcaraz spoke about his high level displayed despite the four-month break
“Obviously, competition is a completely different world from training. But I have been training normally, hitting my forehand with a lot of freedom and not thinking about my wrist at any moment, neither during training nor during matches.”
“I know that when I step onto the court, I simply have to go for it every time. I have to feel normal. I have to hit as I did before the injury and see what happens after that. I’m feeling great. There’s no reason to be afraid and not hit like normal.”
Alcaraz revealed the key to his victory over Faria
“The night session is a completely different world from playing during the day. The ball becomes bigger. It’s more complicated to move it and make it hurt. I had a break point and didn’t take advantage of it. After that, I just wanted to play short points, and that was a mistake on my part. I needed to play with more patience, to build the points with long rallies, three, four, or five shots, and then go for them.”
Carlos keeps it going!
He takes the third over Faria 6-3. pic.twitter.com/kHoYXaM4rZ— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2026
“But I was trying to build the point from the first shots and I didn’t succeed. I would say that’s why he got the break and took the first set. After that, I realized what I had to do. I needed to have more patience, to build the points more from the beginning. I got an early break, which helped me a lot to play more calmly and think more clearly about everything. I would say that was the turning point.”
Alcaraz discloses that in the future he will take breaks of one or two months
“I had a longer break than I wanted, to be honest. But seeing how tight the schedule is, I obviously didn’t want to take this break due to an injury. However, in the future, I will take some breaks, some long breaks. Maybe not four months, but definitely one or two months, missing some tournaments because it’s impossible to play them all.
"I believe they are adding more important tournaments. In a way, they are forcing us to play. You can say no, that you can leave one or two out, that you can decide your schedule, but there are some Masters 1000, some Grand Slams, and if we have to play all the mandatory tournaments that the ATP requires, we are out competing for about 40 weeks.
"That is impossible, and we are seeing many players getting injured, many players getting tired. If they don’t do something about it, we will see even more cases in the future. But for me, taking this break due to an injury was not something positive, but what I mean is that in the future I will take some breaks and I will miss some tournaments, for sure,” concluded Carlos Alcaraz, who while continuing to succeed in his return to the courts at the US Open, sent a clear message to the leaders of tennis.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz: "En el futuro haré descansos de uno o dos meses, es imposible jugar todo"