Arantxa Rus had a special preparation for her first round at Roland Garros on Monday. A few hours before her match, she completed her last training session with Carlos Alcaraz’s older brother.
For a moment, it seems as if Rus is warming up against Carlos Alcaraz a few hours before her first-round match. “He does look a bit like him, doesn’t he?” the Dutch player says after her impressive victory in the first round of Roland Garros.
The 34-year-old Rus is referring to Álvaro, Alcaraz’s older brother. Dressed in the gravel-colored shirt with the text ‘Merci Rafa’, Álvaro returns Rus’s serves. “He had a hard time against me, but he is also a bit less fit and talented than his little brother.”
It is no coincidence that Rus is facing Alcaraz 2.0, who sat next to Carlos in the same shirt during the Nadal tribute on Sunday evening. Her Spanish coach Julián Alonso knows the Alcaraz family well.
“Julián often plays with him and was also going to hit a ball with him today,” says Rus. “But I still needed a hitting partner, so he became it.”
Rus also encounters a pigeon
It wasn’t a real test for Rus. “If he plays with my trainer, I think it will be a bit easier,” she laughs. “They take a break a little more often.”
A few hours later, the real work begins for Rus. Court 6 fills up with Dutch and Colombian fans, who make themselves heard. “Those Colombians make a lot of noise, but I already knew that from my previous match against her,” says Rus.
During the match, a pigeon also flies low overhead several times. “That was a bit scary sometimes. I’ve never seen them here before,” says Rus, who has been participating in the main tournament in Paris since 2009.
Despite all the distractions, Rus (WTA-94) remains calm and fights her way past Colombian Camila Osorio, who is 43 places higher in the world rankings, in three sets. “I knew beforehand that it was possible to win against her. It’s nice that it worked out.”