NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz took the Arthur Ashe Stadium court Monday dressed in a brown shirt and matching shorts, a far cry from the vibrant pink and purple wardrobe he donned throughout last year’s run to the US Open championship.

That was fitting, perhaps, because Alcaraz had more than four months of rust to shake off.

Monday afternoon’s first-round victory over Roman Safiullin in straight sets marked Alcaraz’s return from a right wrist injury that had sidelined him since April.

Alcaraz admitted even he didn’t know what to expect after such a long layoff, and all of that down time seemed to affect the Spanish sensation as he navigated early misses and a slower-than-normal serve speed.

Ultimately, the 23-year-old found his form enough to roll past Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. But more importantly, Alcaraz made it through Monday’s match feeling healthy.

“It was a difficult day for me, to be honest,” Alcaraz said afterward. “But at the same time, a really beautiful one. Starting the day, [I was] really nervous. Really, really nervous. Thinking, like, I’m going to make it. I’m going to compete again.”

Safiullin, the world’s No. 99 player, presented a challenging first-round matchup, considering the Russian was 1-1 all time against Alcaraz and had just advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon.

The 29-year-old Safiullin tested Alcaraz, winning the first game of every set and repeatedly returning the Spaniard’s serves.

But, after falling behind 3-2 in the first set, Alcaraz began to find a rhythm. He won the next three games, including the seventh of the set, which he ended by ripping a vintage cross-court winner to break Safiullin’s serve.

Alcaraz would go on to win four of seven break points, and while his first serves lived in the 112-mph range, he still won 66% of those points.

“The serve is the shot that I was struggling [with] the most,” Alcaraz said.

“Depends on the player I’m going to play against. There are some players who like to return when the serve is coming over 130 [mph], and when you serve a little bit slower than he or they want to return, they struggle a little bit. So most of that speed is because of him. It was kind of tactics. … But it will be back, for sure.”

Alcaraz had not competed in a singles tournament since mid-April, when he withdrew from the Barcelona Open before the Round of 16.

It was at that tournament the right-handed Alcaraz began experiencing discomfort in his serving wrist — an issue he acknowledged Monday was “more serious than we thought at the beginning.”

But Alcaraz made the decision to return for the US Open, a grueling tournament that features best-of-five matches and requires seven victories to be crowned champion.

He tuned up last week by competing with Serena Williams in the Open’s mixed doubles tournament, where the star-powered pair won a match before falling in the quarterfinals.

“It’s pain-free right now,” Alcaraz said Monday. “I felt great. I don’t know how it looked from the outside, but from inside, my feeling was that I was hitting normal. I was playing pretty normal, playing my style, and the arm, the wrist, everything felt great.”

Alcaraz is a two-time Open winner (2022 and 2025) and, despite being the No. 2 seed this year, remains the favorite to repeat because world No. 1 Jannik Sinner is sitting out with a knee injury.

The path became even clearer for Alcaraz on Sunday night when fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic — a 24-time Grand Slam champion — was upset in the opening round by Mariano Navone.

Djokovic, 39, was on Alcaraz’s side of the bracket and could have met him in the semifinals, the same round where they faced each other at Flushing Meadows last year.

No. 10 seed Arthur Fils, meanwhile, lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets Monday to further thin out the field.

But regardless of potential opponents, Alcaraz isn’t looking that far ahead. He doesn’t know how his wrist will respond during this two-week grind in Queens, or if his run will even last that long.

All he can focus on is Portugal’s Jaime Faria, the world’s No. 72 player, who is set to face Alcaraz in the second round Wednesday.

“My goal here is to compete, to enjoy, and let’s see how my body’s going to react after the matches, after the competition again,” Alcaraz said.

“I don’t know how far I’m gonna go in the tournament. I didn’t know if I was going to lose this one, if I’m going to make the second round, [the] final. I don’t know how far I’m going to go.”

Sabalenka's strong showing

Aryna Sabalenka’s latest title defense also got off to an encouraging start Monday, as she won her first-round match over Camila Osorio 6-4, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The Belarusian-born Sabalenka aims to become the third woman in the modern era to win three consecutive US Open singles titles, a feat previously achieved by only Chris Evert (who won four in a row from 1975-78) and Serena Williams (2012-14).

“I think I played great,” Sabalenka said. “I’m happy with my performance. She’s a tough opponent, makes you work really hard to get every point. So I’m happy that I was able to close the match in straight sets.”

Sabalenka, 28, entered the Open in something of a slump, as she did not win any of the year’s first three Grand Slam tournaments and recently suffered a fourth-round upset at the Cincinnati Open.

But Sabalenka, who will face Russia’s Polina Iatcenko in the second round, said she’s not focused on past results.

“I think the good thing for me is not looking back no matter what, if it’s good or bad, because I feel a good result can also stop you from performing well,” Sabalenka said.

“If I win the tournament or lose the tournament, for me, today is a new day and I have to be focused on just staying in the moment.”

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