Carlos Alcaraz's wrist is '100%' healed, Patrick Mouratoglou says after Tokyo title

Carlos Alcaraz spent four months off the ATP tour with a wrist injury — from the Barcelona Open in April until a late-August return at the US Open — and the lingering question was whether the joint was actually right. Patrick Mouratoglou now says it's settled: "If the question was, is his wrist 100%, I think the answer is yes."

Serena Williams' former coach made the call in an Instagram post reacting to Alcaraz's Japan Open triumph, the 23-year-old Spaniard's 27th career ATP title.

The numbers have been stacking up since he returned: a run to the US Open quarterfinals, Laver Cup glory with Team Europe and now a title defence in Tokyo.

Mouratoglou's verdict goes beyond the wrist. His real point is that Alcaraz's greatest quality is subtler than the forehand — the knack of winning even while playing badly. "He makes a lot of unforced errors, but the power is here. Everything's there. The touch, the power, but it's lacking consistency a lot," he wrote.

If the question is, is he back, the answer is yes, he's back.

Winning ugly in Tokyo

The evidence backs the verdict. Alcaraz was pushed in almost every match of his Japan Open run — a three-set opener against Alex Michelsen, two dropped sets and four tiebreaks — before beating Jiri Lehecka in the final to defend his title.

"He played well enough to win, and he found ways to win," Mouratoglou added. "He didn't play great and he won."

Alcaraz kept the streak going Saturday in Shanghai, opening his Masters 1000 campaign with a straight-sets 6-3, 6-3 win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo. He admitted the courts felt "quite different than Tokyo."

"Suddenly, I just realised that I have to play aggressively, trying to go to the net as much as I can, and I think it worked," he told reporters.

Shanghai is one of three ATP Masters 1000 titles Alcaraz has never won, alongside the Canadian Open and the Paris Masters.