Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz is confident he will be fit to play Indian Wells after saying he will be “out of work for a few days” with an ankle injury suffered at the Rio Open.
After he was forced to retire two games into his opening match, Alcaraz said tests showed he had sprained the ankle.
The 20-year-old Spaniard is due to play Rafael Nadal in a Las Vegas exhibition before his Indian Wells title defence.
“See you in Las Vegas and Indian Wells,” Alcaraz said on social media.
World number two Alcaraz is set to face Nadal, his compatriot and 23-time Grand Slam champion, in The Netflix Slam on 3 March.
The main draw of the BNP Paribas Open, which is one of the biggest tournaments outside of the four Grand Slams, starts in Indian Wells on 6 March.
“I just had an MRI on my ankle after yesterday’s injury and I have a grade two lateral sprain that will keep me out of work for a few days,” Alcaraz said on Wednesday.
According to the NHS England website, a grade two sprain is a ‘moderate’ injury where “at least one of the lateral ankle ligaments are partially torn, with moderate ankle swelling, pain and bruising”.
Alcaraz required medical attention after twisting his ankle in the second point of his opening match in Rio against Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro.
The two-time major winner returned to the court and managed to break his opponent’s serve in the opening game, only to retire after Monteiro immediately broke back.
Speaking after the match, Alcaraz said: “I felt bad. That was the first impression I had.
“I was feeling pain once I fell down, so I thought it was going to be difficult to continue if I was still having those feelings.
“After a few points it didn’t feel better. I couldn’t move well and I knew that it was going to be impossible to continue.
“I thought it was going to get worse if I kept playing for such a long match and that’s why I chose to retire.”
