Tennis commentator has illogical argument about Carlos Alcaraz's health

Ahead of the Barcelona Open, Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the event. If you believe what the tournament said in a social media post, the reason the ATP No. 3 is not playing is because of an "injury." Specifically, Alcaraz hurt the pronator teres in his right forearm and this does not allow him to flex his forearm as he should which means less power of his forehands. The normal course of action is to rest the injury, hence the withdrawal from the Barcelona Open.

Tennis journalist German R. Abril wants us to believe that there is some other reason Alcaraz is not participating in the event but one thing is sure, says Abril, Alcaraz is "not injured." This makes little sense, especially when Abril tweeted that "the problem is that he doesn't have a good feeling when hitting hard with his forehand. It is important that you feel confident again when hitting the drive."

But why would that be? Either Alcaraz is so concerned about his form that he doesn't want to play and lose in a tournament or any injury is causing him to not have a "good feeling" when hitting the ball hard. A tennis player who is not hitting with pace simply because they are afraid the ball will not go where the player wants it to go is a real problem.

Is Carlos Alcaraz injured or isn't he?

Possibly Abril is saying that Alcaraz is being held out of events as a precaution to not cause his arm to get hurt further, but that would still mean there is some kind of injury. Otherwise, any player anywhere ever could simply say, "I am keeping myself out of the next few events as a precaution that I could possibly be hurt." That would be silly.

Clearly, there is some kind of injury to Alcaraz's forearm or he would keep playing. Even Alcaraz has said his arm is hurt. That does not mean that the injury is dire and he will miss months, but he simply needs rest. Without proper rest, the forearm is not going to get better. If Abril wants to interpret the rest as a precaution and that the player is "not injured," that is his opinion. But he doesn't need to post on social media as if his opinion is pure truth. Alcaraz does have an injury.

Or maybe Abril doesn't believe the official Barcelona Open X/Twitter account which wrote in part, "The player from Murcia has suffered from the injury sustained in Monte Carlo, and did not have a good feeling in his training on Sunday..." Abril might have reason to. Alcaraz withdrew from the Monte-Carlo Masters with the same forearm issue. Or maybe, if we believe Abril, Alcaraz withdrew from his last two scheduled events as a precaution in fear of getting hurt.

Alcaraz could be back as soon as the Madrid Masters. This might only have Abril believe in his thinking the Spaniard is not injured further. More likely, however, it means Alcaraz has had sufficient rest in order to have his forearm injury lessen enough that he can play again.

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