After 139 days of absence from the courts due to a wrist injury, Carlos Alcaraz reappeared in singles with a good 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory in two hours and 21 minutes against the Russian Roman Safiullin on the Arthur Ashe court, to begin the defense of his title in the 2026 US Open in Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.
Wearing a brown sleeveless shirt and a white compression sleeve on his right arm, Alcaraz added his second victory in three previous victories against Safiullin, number 99 in the world ranking.
The 29-year-old Russian had beaten him in the 2023 Paris Masters 1,000 and Alcaraz had taken revenge the following year, again in the French capital, on the stage of the Olympic Games.
Alcaraz, a two-time champion in New York and winner of seven majors in his career, had his first competitive test on the Arthur Ashe court last week in the mixed doubles played alongside Serena Williams.
Despite those two games, this Monday was the first real test to resume the competitive pace at the highest levels. And the Murcian solved it with authority, against a concentrated Safiullin, strong with the serve and determined to extend the points.
Alcaraz annulled two break points in his first three turns with the serve, but he became more and more loose and took advantage of his second break opportunity, with 3-3 on the scoreboard, to get the first set back on track and sentence it 6-4.
The Murcian seemed to have freed himself from the initial tension, but in the second set Safiullin won the first eight points and broke him to love to take a 2-0 lead.
He was shocked. The Murcian recovered the break immediately and sealed another break in the seventh game to retain the 6-4 lead, after just over ninety minutes of play.
Once again, Alcaraz had to contain Safiullin’s initial reaction. He annulled three break points in his first turn with service and achieved the break at thirty in the third game.
It was enough for him to entrust himself to his turns with the serve to secure the passage to the round in two hours and 21 minutes of a good level. He celebrated by shouting ‘Let’s go’ repeatedly and looking towards his team in the stands.
Alcaraz has the challenge of defending his crown in New Yorksomething that no man has achieved since the Swiss Roger Federer, who won five titles in a row between 2004 and 2008.
His next rival is the Portuguese Jaime Faría, number 72 in the world, who won 6-3, 7-6(4), 4-6, 1-6 and 6-2 against the American Jenson Brooksby. This second round matchup is Wednesday, September 2, at 8:10 pm ET, at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I was more nervous than usual”
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, who made a successful return after more than four months of absence due to injury, admitted having jumped onto the court “more nervous than usual”, but with the clear objective of enjoying tennis again.
«To be honest, it was a difficult day for me, but at the same time very nice. “I started the day very, very nervous,” confessed the current world number 3, who on Monday beat the Russian Roman Safiullin in his debut at the United States Open by a triple 6-4.
Alcaraz said, in the press conference after the match, that the four and a half month break due to a right wrist injury made him forget what a game day was like.
«I was warming up and I didn’t really remember what I used to do. “It was like recovering that feeling again,” he explained about that initial uncertainty.
«Once you step on the court without having played an official match since the first round, obviously you want to win and you don’t know what is going to happen after almost four and a half months. “You don’t know how your body, your mind, everything will react,” he said.
For Alcaraz, it was key to enjoy the match against Safiullin: «Today there was more enjoyment than level of play, but both things are quite high. “We were very clear, both my team and I, that today was to enjoy.”
The physical condition of the Murcian was the great unknown of the tournament. During the crash, Alcaraz wore a compression sleeve and a white wristband on his right arm.
«Right now (my wrist) doesn’t hurt at all. I felt great. “The arm, the wrist, everything felt great, so I’m very happy to have no pain,” he said.
The only aspect that required obvious adjustments was the serve, which recorded a lower average speed than usual during the match.
“The serve is probably the shot I’ve been struggling with the most,” he noted, although he clarified that the speed reduction largely responded to a strategic choice given the characteristics of the Russian.
«There are some players who find it a bit difficult when you serve slower than they want to subtract. Much of that speed is due to tactics, but I am going to try to serve better,” he noted.
Alcaraz, who seeks to retain the title in Flushing Meadows, highlighted the importance of mental strength and the support of his close circle to lose the fear of injury.
“The complete confidence I have in my team is what makes me calmer and not think about anything beyond what I have to do on the court,” concluded the Spaniard, who faces the Portuguese Jaime Faria this Wednesday in the next round of the New York tournament.
(With a report from Andrea Montolivo, from EFE)
