NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz is among the tennis stars getting into the swing of things at the U.S. Open.
A golf swing, that is.
After his first-round victory at Flushing Meadows this week, the five-time Grand Slam champion used his racket to pantomime using a club on the course — perhaps a nod to one of the spectators in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium that night, golf star Rory McIlroy.
Plenty of athletes eyeing a trophy on the hard courts of New York, including the person Alcaraz beat in the 2022 men’s final, Casper Ruud, and 2024 women’s runner-up Jessica Pegula, are swapping fuzzy yellow tennis balls for dimpled white golf balls as a way to relax. So are past tennis greats such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz and Ruud sometimes travel on tour with their clubs. Even during Wimbledon last month — when he famously went golfing with Andy Murray on off days — and while preparing to go to the U.S. Open, Alcaraz made sure to find opportunities to put the rackets in the bag and tees in the ground.
“Every time that I can,” Alcaraz said with a smile.
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Ruud, one of tennis’ best golfers, went on social media to post a photo with Alcaraz on a course recently and captioned it: “Who should we challenge to a match??”
Similarly, Federer asked “Anyone ready to take on the two of us??” with a picture showing him and Nadal when they hit the links in Mallorca in July.
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Golfers say their counterparts have got game.
“Tennis players are good golfers, I’ll tell you that,” 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia said. “I’ve played with a lot of them.”
His report on fellow Spaniard Nadal?
“He’s a fighter, just like he was as a tennis player,” Garcia said.
Federer, like many in retirement, has thrown himself into a game he didn’t have as much time for when he was working.
“He has a lot of potential. Great technique, as you can imagine,” said McIlroy, who teed it up with Federer a few months ago. “He didn’t play a ton when he was playing tennis because it always (bothered) his lower back a little bit. But he’s really getting into it. He’s super keen. He went and got fitted for clubs. His wife, Mirka, is playing, his kids are playing. It’s turned from a tennis family to a golf family.”
Sebastian Korda comes from a family that’s both. His parents were professional tennis players — Mom, Regina, was ranked in the top 30; Dad, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open and was the runner-up at the 1992 French Open — and his sisters, Nelly (ranked No. 1 until recently) and Jessica, are pro golfers.
“They’re both individual sports and, as an athlete, you want to be competitive at anything you do,” Korda said. “There’s a lot of challenges in golf, and as tennis players, we kind of love problem-solving. That’s a big part of our sport: figuring things out.”
That’s what lured Pegula back to the course. She’s been playing since she was young, but had one of those rounds last year that makes even passionate golfers put away the clubs.
“I had a meltdown and I was like, ‘This isn’t helping me,’” Pegula said.
She stayed away until just a few weeks ago. Her swing and enjoyment of the game came right back.
“I think it is relaxing, but it’s also mentally a challenge. I like to kind of problem-solve and think through it and try to be smart with how I’m playing,” Pegula said. “I feel like it kind of sharpens me a little bit mentally. I finally was like, ‘OK, I’ll play for the first time.’ I actually played pretty well, considering I hadn’t played all year.”
When the tours were in Madrid this year, she outdid Ruud in a closest-to-the-pin challenge posted on YouTube. Neither golfs during the European clay-court season; Ruud explained that courses are too far from major cities that host tournaments.
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There are more options in the New York area, which will host golf’s Ryder Cup shortly after the U.S. Open. The Norwegian has played Winged Foot, home to multiple golf U.S. Opens.
“Northeast America has great golf courses, as well as Palm Springs and Miami,” said Ruud, who said he’s nearly a scratch golfer.
Alcaraz isn’t there yet. But he intends to keep playing 18.
“When you’re walking to the next hole, you’re just forgetting about everything else, just enjoying the moment and enjoy being with your friends,” he said. “I just love being like that.”
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