Carlos Alcaraz has been forced to withdraw from several major tournaments in recent weeks due to a wrist injury sustained at the Barcelona Open.
There's no report as to the exact day he will return to the court, but he will surely be out for months. His arch-rival, Jannik Sinner, has advised applying caution by not forcing any kind of immediate return from injury.
What began as a stellar start to the season for Alcaraz is currently not going the way he would have planned. After winning the Australian Open and claiming his Career Grand Slam, there were high hopes that he could dominate the rest of the year. But in March, things began to fall apart as he failed to reach the final of the Indian Wells Open and crashed out in the third round of the Miami Open.
He reached the Monte Carlo Masters final for the second consecutive season, but failed to lift the title as he lost to Sinner in straight sets. Then, at the Barcelona Open, he sustained an injury that forced him to miss the Madrid Open and the Italian Open. Alcaraz also isn't taking part in the ongoing Roland Garros.
Last week, he confirmed that he will play in the grass-court swing, extending his time on the sidelines. This now gives Sinner the freedom to dominate the ATP Tour landscape, and he has done that since then. He has won three consecutive ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, and he's the favorite to win the French Open.
Should Sinner win the French Open, he will claim his Career Grand Slam. But at the same time, Alcaraz is not willing to take any risk of returning to the tour until he fully recovers from his wrist injury. Speaking to Paris Match, Sinner revealed that Alcaraz's injury will not be the end of his high-flying career, predicting that he will come back stronger if he fully recovers:
Very unfortunate news obviously. I know him very well in a personal point of view too and he's going through a tough moment. But at the same time, you know, it's sport, and sports are very unpredictable. Injuries come and go, he's still very young and the main priority is to heal out 100% and not rush because that could have consequences for the rest of his career. And that's very dangerous.
No.1 seed Sinner will open his account at the French Open against Clement Tabur. He reached the final of the Grand Slam tournament last year before losing to Alcaraz in a five-set thriller that lasted for 5 hours and 29 minutes. The only potential challenger against Sinner in Paris is Novak Djokovic.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have only met in championship matches in the past one and a half years on tour. Since their rivalry reached its highest level on the court, they have both stood apart on tour, ranked in the top 2 on the men's circuit. The last time they met was at the Monte Carlo Masters, where Sinner defeated Alcaraz in straight sets.
However, Alcaraz leads Sinner 10-7 in their head-to-head record and has lost their last two meetings on tour. There's still a chance they will meet again this season, but if Alcaraz was fit to play the French Open, they would have met in the final.
During the aforementioned interview, Sinner admitted that Alcaraz's absence at the Roland Garros doesn't change his plans as he would have faced the Spaniard in the final if he had competed:
But at the same time, even if Carlos were to play, I know we could only meet in the final. There's still a long way to go, and a lot can happen. This sport is very unpredictable, and I'm fully focused on my game. On what I have to do. And then we'll see what happens.
Alcaraz's last win over Sinner came at the 2025 US Open final, where he defeated the Italian star in four sets. Last year, Alcaraz dominated their head-to-head record, winning four of their six meetings on the court.
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