‘I felt the love’ – how did Alcaraz look on winning singles return?
Four Months of Silence, Then a Roar: Alcaraz's Flushing Meadows Comeback
Ninoda.com – For 139 days, the most feared forehand in men's tennis belonged to memory. Carlos Alcaraz last stepped onto a singles court during the first round of the Barcelona Open in April, before a wrist injury pulled him from competition for just over four months. On Monday, that long absence ended at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the seven-time Grand Slam champion reclaimed his US Open title with a commanding 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over Russia's Roman Safiullin.
The match itself was less a statement of dominance than a declaration of intent. Alcaraz, still wearing a compression sleeve on his right arm, produced 28 winners — the overwhelming majority arriving from that trademark forehand, whipped through with the same ferocity fans had missed since spring. Each point was punctuated by a clenched fist and a shouted "vamos" directed at his team stationed along the baseline. At one change of ends, the 23-year-old was spotted singing along to a Michael Jackson track, grinning broadly as the crowd swelled around him.
The Emotional Weight of Returning
Alcaraz had spent the summer watching from the stands as Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner claimed the French Open and Wimbledon trophies respectively. The isolation of that period clearly left its mark. In his post-match interview, the Spaniard's voice carried genuine relief:
"I missed the crowd, the energy, the competition – I missed everything. I'm just really, really happy that I was able to compete again."
He elaborated on what the experience meant to him, framing the tournament not as a title chase but as a series of moments to savour:
"What I really want to do is enjoy every time that I'm going to walk into the court, feeling the energy from the people. That's what I'm going do this tournament. The results, it's going to come after all. That's why I enjoyed so much today, and it wasn't a surprise for me, because I came here to enjoy."
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, commenting on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, noted that virtually every point Alcaraz won was met with a visible celebration. The observation underscored how starved the player had been of competitive tennis over the preceding months.
Technical Gaps Remain
For all the exuberance, the numbers told a more cautious story about one particular weapon. Alcaraz recorded just two aces against five double faults in the match. His first-serve percentage sat at 68%, and he converted 66% of points behind that initial strike — respectable, but below the levels that make his serve a genuine match-weapon. The player himself acknowledged the shortfall:
"The serve is the shot I was struggling [with] the most. I'm going try to serve better. The point is going to try to serve normal, but it's a shot that I just always struggle [with]. But it will be back, for sure."
He added that a deliberately slower serve had been part of his tactical plan to disrupt Safiullin's rhythm, suggesting the issue was partly one of timing rather than pure mechanics.
Fitness Questions and the Five-Set Horizon
Alcaraz did not appear visibly winded during the three-set contest, yet he conceded privately that doubts had nagged at him before the first serve. The question of whether his body could sustain a five-set Grand Slam marathon — something he had answered last year by outlasting Sinner in the final — remained unresolved after a single match.
"There were some doubts in the match, I'm not going to lie. I've been thinking about 'am I going to last the best of five, am I going to last playing four sets, five sets?' I need more matches under the belt to get again into the rhythm of the tournament. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get better and better every day."
A Thinned Draw Opens the Path
The broader tournament landscape has shifted considerably in Alcaraz's favour. World number one Jannik Sinner is absent with a knee problem. Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam veteran, suffered a shock first-round defeat at the hands of Argentina's Mariano Navone on Sunday. Frenchman Arthur Fils, the 10th seed and recent Cincinnati Masters champion, fell to Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas earlier on Monday.
As the second seed, Alcaraz occupies the opposite half of the draw from top seed Zverev, meaning the two cannot meet before the final. His immediate next opponent is Portugal's Jaime Faria, ranked 72nd in the world — a far gentler test than the elite opposition that will arrive in later rounds. Safiullin, ranked 99th, offered a useful calibration match but little indication of how Alcaraz's game will hold up against top-10 opposition over five sets.
The historical stakes add another layer. Should Alcaraz complete his defence, he would become the first man to retain the US Open singles crown since Roger Federer's five consecutive titles between 2004 and 2008. That gap — nearly two decades without a successful defender — makes any title run at Flushing Meadows a statistical rarity, and Alcaraz's return to form, however tentative, keeps that possibility alive for the coming weeks.
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