{"id":172372,"date":"2025-10-01T08:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/172372\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T08:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:30:09","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-gives-special-credit-to-best-physio-in-the-world-after-winning-japan-open-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/172372\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz gives special credit to \u2018best physio in the world\u2019 after winning Japan Open title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 jEZjIj\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 jEZjIj\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 jEZjIj\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/carlos-alcaraz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> gave a \u201cspecial shout-out\u201d to his long-time physiotherapist Juanjo Moreno after winning the Japan Open title as he recovered from an injury scare in his opening match to win the title in Tokyo. <\/p>\n<p>The World No 1 defeated second seed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/taylor-fritz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Fritz<\/a> 6-4 6-4 to win his eighth title of the season and extend his dominant form. But it could have been a very different story after Alcaraz hurt his left ankle in his opening match against Sebastian Baez. <\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/sport\/tennis\/carlos-alcaraz-injury-ankle-japan-open-tokyo-b2833457.html\" title=\"\u2018I was scared\u2019: Carlos Alcaraz provides injury update after fall at Japan Open\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ignored pleas from his own team to retire from the match<\/a> and he recovered in time to play his second-round match against Zizou Bergs, calling Moreno \u201cthe best physio in the world\u201d for the work he did on his ankle and saving his tournament. <\/p>\n<p>After the six-time grand slam champion Alcaraz overcame an injured Fritz, who received a medical timeout for a left leg problem, Alcaraz said: \u201cMy team, I\u2019m always really lucky to have you. Special shout-out to Juanjo after fell on my ankle earlier in the tournament, I\u2019m grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz added: &#8220;It&#8217;s been a pleasure to be able to play here in Tokyo in front of Japanese fans. I&#8217;ve enjoyed every single second I was on the court [apart from] the five minutes I was on the floor after I hurt my ankle. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m really happy with the level that I played and with everything. Starting the week not really good with the ankle, and the way that I came back from that and played a great tournament, great matches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz had lost his previous match against Fritz at the Laver Cup but came out firing against the big-serving American, blasting several stunning winners in taking a high quality opening set 6-4. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI268330789.jpeg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Alcaraz overturned Fritz\u2019s win at the Laver Cup as he continued his dominant season\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz overturned Fritz\u2019s win at the Laver Cup as he continued his dominant season (REUTERS)<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz\u2019s level dipped as he faced an ailing Fritz, and he was broken when serving for the title. But Alcaraz found his focus and put away back-to-back drop shots to close out a 6-4 6-4 win against the second seed. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s the best player in the world for a reason and he\u2019s also a great guy,\u201d Fritz said. \u201cI\u2019m happy for the success he\u2019s having.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz continued the best season of his career by joining an elite group of men to win eight titles in a year since 2000, joining his rival Jannik Sinner as well as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been great, my best season so far without a doubt,&#8221; Alcaraz said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t start the year that good, struggling emotionally, so looking back and how I came back from that, I&#8217;m just proud of myself, and of all the people around me who have helped me to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-172372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}