Carlos Alcaraz has started hitting tennis balls in earnest for the first time since April, but the Cincinnati Open will come too soon for its defending champion.
Alcaraz has withdrawn from the event, which starts Aug. 13, as he continues to rehabilitate an injury to his right wrist, the tournament said in a statement Tuesday. The Cincinnati Open, an ATP and WTA 1000 event one rung below the Grand Slams, is the last big tuneup for the U.S. Open, where Alcaraz is also defending champion.
The 23-year-old, who won his seventh Grand Slam title at January’s Australian Open to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, injured his right wrist during a match at the Barcelona Open in April.
Alcaraz is managing tenosynovitis, an injury in which fluid accumulates in the sheath that protects a key tendon in the wrist. The injury has kept him out of two Grand Slams this year, with the Spaniard and his team taking a cautious approach to managing the kind of injury tennis players fear most. Alcaraz pulled out of the French Open a full month before it started, and withdrew from Wimbledon nearly six weeks out.
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Speaking at the Laureus Awards in Madrid in April, Alcaraz said in Spanish: “I have a very long career ahead of me, with many years still to come. Forcing things at this Roland Garros could really harm me for future tournaments.”
Alcaraz, who would have been the No. 2 seed at the Cincinnati Open because of a calendar quirk, will be replaced in that slot by French Open champion Alexander Zverev. The singles main draws at the U.S. Open start Aug. 30.
The Cincinnati Open released the news on Tuesday evening, as the men’s tournament in Montreal, which is also a Masters 1000 event, was getting underway. Alcaraz and his team took Montreal out of the comeback equation long ago.
“Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open with an ongoing wrist injury,” the tournament announcement said.
“We know Carlos is doing everything he can to get back to playing tournaments as soon as possible,” said tournament director Bob Moran. “We wish him the best with his recovery and look forward to welcoming him back to Cincinnati in the future.”
Alcaraz is the defending champion in the event. Missing the chance to defend the Cincinnati title pales in comparison to competing at his best at the year’s final Grand Slam, the U.S. Open. And that is not as important as Alcaraz being able to resume a career that was on track to become one of the best in the sport’s history.
His comeback appeared to be accelerating during the past week, as Alcaraz released videos of himself taking full swings while wearing a patch over his left eye, something that players sometimes do to strengthen their other eye. It was the first glimpse in months of something resembling a pre-injury Alcaraz.
Alcaraz has been the dominant male player of the past three years. Since 2022, he has won seven Grand Slam titles and twice finished the season as the year-end No. 1. Jannik Sinner, his chief rival, has said in no uncertain terms, “the sport needs Carlos.” Indeed, no one else generates excitement and buzz and elicits gasps over his electric play as Alcaraz does.
He and Sinner met in the final of three consecutive Grand Slams beginning with the epic 2025 French Open. The sport appeared poised for another of its era-defining duopolies.
That might still happen, but wrist injuries can be stubborn. They have derailed the careers of terrific players and Grand Slam champions, including Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin Del Potro. It remains far too early to sound the alarm bells on Alcaraz’s career, as he is just 23.
Wrist injuries, though, are different from balky knees or sore feet. It’s almost impossible for players to generate the kind of power and spin that has helped Alcaraz rise above the sport with a wrist that won’t heal.
Experts say the challenge is the lack of muscle in the wrist. That prevents people from building up strength to compensate for an injury the way stronger quads and calves can compensate for a hurt knee.