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 cl

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