NEW YORK – The questions about the wrist are gone now. What’s left, under the lights of Flushing Meadows, is the familiar sight of Carlos Alcaraz tightening his grip on a Grand Slam draw.
On Sunday, the 23-year-old swept into the U.S. Open quarter-finals with a ruthless 6-4 6-3 6-4 dismantling of American Tommy Paul, a straight-sets win that carried more than just a place in the last eight. It carried a statement: the defending champion is back to hunting titles, not testing his body.
This is Alcaraz’s first full-throttle tournament since a wrist injury kept him out for nearly five months. In the early rounds, he spoke like a man measuring each step, refusing to lean on past glories or future dreams. No bold predictions, no talk of trophies. Just a cautious curiosity about how the joint would hold up and a repeated insistence on one thing: enjoyment.
“At the beginning of the tournament I didn't have any expectations,” he told reporters. “I just came here to see how my body would react, especially my wrist, and above all to enjoy being back competing.”
Four matches later, the tone has shifted. The tennis has too.
Alcaraz has now strung together 18 consecutive wins at the majors, and his game is beginning to look like it did before the layoff: explosive off both wings, elastic in defence, and utterly unhurried in the biggest moments. Against Paul, he controlled the baseline, shrugged off the home crowd’s surges, and closed each set with the authority of a man who trusts every part of his body again.
“After four really good matches, now I feel capable of winning the tournament,” he said. The mindset, though, remains anchored in the same place. “I still have the same expectations. I still have the same mentality of knowing that every time I step on court is a gift and it is a moment to enjoy.”
The numbers back up the feeling. Alcaraz, already a seven-time Grand Slam champion, has reached the U.S. Open quarter-finals for the fifth time in six appearances. This is his territory now, the late stages of Slams, where his blend of aggression and swagger has become a familiar presence.
There was another twist to Sunday’s win. Paul has become something of a marker on Alcaraz’s Grand Slam path. All three of their previous meetings at the majors came in tournaments Alcaraz went on to win: Wimbledon in 2024, Roland Garros in 2025 and this year’s Australian Open. Beating the American again in New York keeps that curious pattern alive.
“It makes you happy when you know those things, but it doesn't mean anything,” Alcaraz said, quick to swat away any sense of fate. “I always say there is a first time for everything, so let's try to make sure it doesn't happen.”
The Spaniard still frames it all as a privilege rather than a burden. Another quarter-final here is not routine to him, or so he insists.
“For me it is still a gift to be able to compete once again and play another quarter-final here at the U.S. Open, so I'm going to try to enjoy it and give my best.”
Waiting for him next will be either American Ben Shelton, with his thunderbolt lefty serve and home-court energy, or Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, a seasoned campaigner with his own history at the sharp end of Slams. There will be no easing into the business end of this tournament.
“Both players are going to be very difficult to play against,” Alcaraz said.
The belief, though, is back where it usually sits for him: high, unflinching, and now backed by a body that has answered every question so far. The wrist has held. The level has risen. The defending champion is no longer just happy to be here.
He is here to win it again.
