Carlos Alcaraz is hopeful of making a solid return to the tour after he had to pull out of the Madrid Open due to a wrist injury. The Spaniard admitted injuries are part and parcel of the game and he would want to hit the ground running on his return.

“This happens for professional sportsmen,” Alcaraz said at a press conference on Monday night at the Laureus World Sports Awards, where he was named World Sportsman of the Year. “At the end of the day, you just have to stand up and try to be stronger than ever, and hopefully I’ll be able to be on the field very soon.”

Alcaraz revealed he is all set to undergo one more test on his right wrist injury and he is not sure when he would be fully fit.

“This is another test on top of the ones I already did,” clarified the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I had a small test already. But we wanted to wait for a bit and then run another test. It’s not a different one actually, it’s just another one in order to see how it is evolving, after one week of rest. And after that we’ll decide.”

The Spaniard said he doesn’t want to rush himself into a comeback and wants to get back on the court only once he is fit as a fiddle.

“We’ll see what comes out of those tests. Let’s see what happens,” said Alcaraz, who is second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin having already lifted titles at the Australian Open and in Doha this year. “I’d rather come back a little later and with a full recovery. I need to take care of myself because I want to have a long career.”

After his withdrawals from Barcelona and Madrid, Alcaraz has fallen behind the World No.1 Jannik Sinner in the ranking points. But the youngster is determined to stay patient.

“I’m not worried about it, and actually in Monte Carlo I said that I was doing well, I did not have an injury, and I was about to lose my No. 1 position anyway,” the Spaniard said. “So it isn’t much, actually. It’s a very nice fight we have for a few weeks. He’s No. 1, then I’m No. 1, now [he keeps] the position for a bit more time.

“This is a long run, and we’ll try to do things the best way possible, and hopefully the No. 1 ranking will come back if we do things right. So the main thing here is to try to get better, of course, and then try to keep the things the right way. To keep training, and hopefully we’ll get that No. 1 rank again very soon.”