Carlos Alcaraz’s US Open title defense begins with anticlimax as first-round opponent Dominik Koepfer retires after an hour due to an ankle injury he suffered in the first game

To think that thousands of supporters were late for the Tuesday night session on Arthur Ashe.

Perhaps they thought there was another long night ahead. Perhaps they were ready for the last stand of a legend and another exhibition from the new king of these lands.

Well, the show court certainly witnessed some drama in a few bits of history: Venus Williams’ heaviest US Open loss; Carlos Alcaraz’s first Grand Slam match as defending champion.

Did all this audience miss something? A competitive tennis match. You have to sympathize with the supporters, with Alcaraz and with his opponent Dominik Koepfer.

Their evening was over by 10pm and any glimmer of hope the German had to upset the world number 1 to write his name in US Open folklore was extinguished in the first match of Tuesday’s headliner .

Koepfer has his foot wrapped by a medical attendant after taking time out for an injury

During the sixth point of the game, he lined up a backhand, but rolled his left ankle.

The pain was immediately written on his face. He called the trainer, the message between him and his corner was: it’s done.

“As soon as I did that, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s it,'” he said. “But when you play Ashe for the first time in front of 30,000 people, against the number one in the world, you can’t just[give up],” Koepfer said. “I wanted to see if it would get better. It got worse, the more I served, the more I pushed off. I ripped my front tyre, no point in making it worse.

“Walking up to the towel rail, I was like, ‘Oh, damn, it’s not right,'” he continued. “It was taped and every time I sat down at the switch and it stiffened, the swelling got bigger and bigger and pushing off on serve just made it worse.”

Give the German credit: he limped on and a few games later told the referee he didn’t want to stop after 20 minutes when there were 20,000 paying customers.

But by that time, this first-round match had been reduced to a formality. There was some boos when the end came after an hour, with Alcaraz leading with a set and a break: 6-2 3-2.

“That’s probably the biggest game I’ve played in my tennis career so far – I played four years in college, six years on tour and it’s by far the coolest experience I’ve had – down to deuce in the first game,” added Koepfer. ‘It didn’t last long, but you still want to take in those moments… I can’t say I didn’t try: I took painkillers, I had it taped and it kept getting worse. There’s no point in ruining the rest of the year.’

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz waits for Germany’s Dominik Koepfer to wrap his ankle

For Alcaraz, this title defense begins with a touch of anticlimax, through no fault of his own. The fast finish gets him an earlier night than planned, but it’s certainly not ideal preparation for the tougher tests ahead.

“I felt great during the game. I started pretty well…to be honest I didn’t expect to play at such a good level in the first round’, he said.

“It was great to get back on track in the Arthur Ashe after such a great run last year. I was excited to come back… I wasn’t thinking, “Last year I was champion.” I just focus on playing my best level, to recover the level I played last year, and try to do the same things as last year. That’s all I’m thinking about right now.’ The Spaniard added: “Obviously I want to play pitched battles, full matches. This is not the best way to win a match.

“But obviously I’m playing a night session, I’m happy to come back early and get some rest – a bit more than I expected before I started the game. It will be better for me to recover to the next round.’

Germany’s Dominik Koepfer leaves the field after giving up during the second set

Koepfer has sprained his ankle only once before – when he was about 13 years old playing on clay courts in Germany. Since then, the 29 have had no problems with it.

The Spaniard won his first major here last year and remains on a collision course with the returning Novak Djokovic.

He tried his best to give the audience some late night entertainment, by playing a few lines of a Spanish song through the microphone.

The 20-year-old’s next chance to impress in this spot is against South African Lloyd Harris in the second round.