Carlos Alcaraz has said that “intrusive thoughts” were the most difficult part of his four-month injury layoff as he prepares to return to singles at the U.S. Open.

The defending champion said in a news conference Friday that the first month of his recovery from a right wrist injury had been especially difficult, because he could not use his right arm.

The 23-year-old has not played a singles match since suffering the injury at the Barcelona Open in April, which forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. He returned to competition alongside American Serena Williams in the U.S. Open mixed doubles this week and will face Roman Safiullin in the first round of the men’s singles.

“Once I started to practice a little bit, that I didn’t know when I’m gonna start, that thoughts are really difficult to deal with, because I don’t know if I’m gonna be ready for Cincinnati, for the U.S. Open, or I’m gonna miss the whole American swing,” Alcaraz said.

“So I would say that intrusive thoughts were the most difficult things to deal with.”

Alcaraz has made no technical changes to his game during his recovery, saying that changing his technique or movement would have prevented him from returning as the same player.

“That injury helped me to know that it’s all in my head,” he said. “I gotta trust my team, I gotta trust my people that tell me it’s gonna be fine.”

Alcaraz prepared for his return with intense practice sessions to test how his wrist responded, including a week training with Denmark’s Holger Rune in Alcaraz’s native Murcia.

“I just tried to do everything perfect on and off the court, to feel ready — really long practices, really intense practices, just to see how my wrist is going to react during the practices and after those really long days.”

Italian world No. 1 Jannik Sinner will miss the U.S. Open with a right knee injury, and Alcaraz said the number of players dealing with physical problems reflected the demands of the tennis calendar.

“I’m seeing a lot of players having problems with their bodies and everything, with injuries,” Alcaraz said. “I think that means how tight everything is on the calendar for the year.”

Alcaraz and Sinner have not played each other since Sinner won their Monte-Carlo final in April, shortly before Alcaraz began his four-month absence. Sinner’s injury means the pair will again be kept apart in New York.

“It’s kind of weird,” Alcaraz said. “We are not gonna see each other for, like, six months now, seven months.”

Tom Holroyd had a try disallowed a minute after half-time, unable to ground the ball before knocking on under pressure from Saints full-back Sailor.

Leeds did get their fourth try soon after though when Jack Bird’s beautiful backhanded offload freed up Ryan Hall to dot down his 357th career try.

Saints were on the board when Jack Welsby’s line break saw him race clear of Leeds’ midfield and full-back Lachie Miller for the match’s second excellent individual try.

But that proved to be just brief respite as Handley got on the scoresheet, latching on to a grubber kick from Connor, and another grubber from Connor found his half-back partner Croft, via the upright, for his 28th Super League try of the season.

Connor missed a late kick late on, striking the post, but his kicking game continues to impress with Leeds looking strong going into the upcoming play-offs.

Saints, meanwhile, will have to beat Leigh and Hull KR in their final two matches if they are to avoid missing out on the Super League play-offs for the first time.

St Helens: Sailor; Douglas, MacDonald, Welsby, Cross; Robertson, Lomax; Suluka-Fifita, Shorrocks, Klemmer, Davies, Wright, Host.

Interchanges: Walmsley, Humphreys, Keeley, Evans.

Sin-bin: Suluka-Fifita (15 mins)

Leeds: Miller; Hall, Bird, Handley, Newman; Croft, Connor; Oledzki, O’Connor, Jenkins, Watkins, Hankinson, Cassell.

Interchanges: Holroyd, Smith, Levi, Lodge.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths.

Leading 14-6 at the start of the second half, Zac Woolford broke from dummy half and found Evalds to score Huddersfield’s third try.

Needing a response, Leigh released Josh Charnley up the right wing and sent Hanley over on his 100th Super League appearance.

But Huddersfield forced a goal-line drop-out that was taken short, Giants claimed the kick and they drove towards the line before Woolford grubbered in-goal for Geyer to dot down.

Leigh kept themselves alive again as they reclaimed the restart, were immediately in behind the defence and sent Mulhern over from the next play.

But they soon knocked on to give Huddersfield field position and Geyer found a gap to slide in for his second try to seal the game.

Huddersfield: Evalds; Milne, Jagger, Halsall, Zenon; Lolohea, Clune; Powell, Woolford, King, Hewitt, Cozza, Rushton

Interchanges: Rogers, Flanagan, Billington, Geyer

Leigh: O’Brien; Senior, Badrock, Hanley, Charnley; Cook, Lam; Ofahengaue, Horne, Mulhern, Hughes, Trout, Liu

Interchanges: Brogan, Ashworth, Alick-Wiencke, Ipape

Referee: Tara Jones