Tennis misses Carlos. Everybody misses Carlos.

The sport isn’t the same without Carlos Alcaraz, its sunny, electric, endlessly scampering 23-year-old acrobat from Spain. With Carlos missing since April, tennis wearily bounces on, a little less fun, deprived of its most charismatic, exciting-to-watch character.

Alcaraz has been out rehabilitating a wrist he injured winning the Australian Open in February. He put his name on the start list for the Cincinnati Open starting tomorrow – a standard tune-up for the US Open later this month – then suddenly withdrew this week. Organisers cited his continued recovery.

Oof. You could feel the groan all the way from southwest Ohio. Alcaraz has not been ruled out of the US Open, where he is the defending men’s champion and one of the tournament’s biggest drawcards. Surely he would like to play if he is cleared to play.

Let’s say this up front: A wrist on the racket hand isn’t the sort of injury to be trifled with. For a tennis player, that wrist is everything: power, control, finesse. That wrist is how Alcaraz sculpts that spectacular drop shot that makes opponents quiver at the knees and would make Harry Hopman cry.

A bad wrist can derail a career, and if you don’t believe that, consider Juan Martin del Potro, the brilliant fireballer from Argentina who beat Roger Federer to win the U.S. Open in 2009, looked poised to supercharge the sport, but never would win another major, his career repeatedly derailed by wrist and other injuries.

If Carlos needs more time, he should take all the time he needs. Take the rest of the year. Put the racquet down. Chill in Ibiza. He’s so young. Pay now, instead of later.

It’s been a long, hot, brutal summer on the men’s side. The field feels thin, decimated. Neither Alcaraz (hurt), world No.1 Jannik Sinner (resting on sacks of money) nor Novak Djokovic (being an old person) turned up at the now-underway Canadian Open. Canada’s best men’s player, world No.4 Felix Auger-Aliassime, just withdrew from Montreal with a bad back. Mon dieu.

Earlier in the week, there was the agonising sight of Jack Draper, the former top-10 British wunderkind, tearing up mid-match as he continues to be hobbled by arm pain. Draper’s been careful and thought he was ready to come back to the tour. He was not.

Draper is one of the sport’s most ferocious young talents, considered a challenger to Sinner and Alcaraz. Now there’s a panic that he could be cooked.

Arms, elbows, wrists: don’t mess with these.

Sinner, meanwhile, will glide back slowly to Cincinnati, taking time off after an impressive victory at Wimbledon. The Italian media reported Sinner had his right knee checked at a Milan clinic, but announced there was no reason for concern, and there is zero indication that he will miss the US Open.

Still, all of this tumult serves to remind us that tennis is a grind, a global sport with limitless travel and an endless calendar. Players are starting to mildly rebel: announcing they want fewer events, and more money at the events they do play, but it has not manifested in any significant change.

For hackers like me and you, tennis may be a sport for life, but at the professional level, it’s fragile. The whole play-to-40 durability of Djokovic and the Big Three: that wasn’t normal. That was crazytown. Tennis is brutal on bodies. Careers traditionally end much sooner. Eventually the wear and tear caught Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, too.

It is not entirely a bummer summer. Praise the heavens for Alex Eala. The 21-year-old Filipino has been electrifying the women’s side, recently winning the DC Open, her legions of Filipino fans energizing the entire tournament, even a Monday rainout final. Eala-mania has carried into the women’s Canadian Open in Toronto, where Eala’s matches are being moved to accommodate the massive fan interest.

That is the best. Get ready for Eala-mania at the US Open.

There’s still no confirmation we will see Serena Williams again in singles. She’s scheduled to play doubles with her sister Venus in Cincinnati, and if that goes well, one presumes we will see them pair again in New York. But there’s been no word about Serena’s singles availability after her one-and-done exit at Wimbledon.

We can be patient with that. She is 44. It’s been hard to tell what kind of comeback Williams is pursuing – if this is a quick resurfacing to play with Venus, or if she intends to fully recommit to the tour.

A few weeks out, the US Open feels unsettled in a way it seldom does. This is the sport’s final clambake – the last major of the calendar, the lights of the city, a vodka lemonade-soaked conclave for superfans and sponsors. There’s still plenty to look forward to, including another go at the starry mixed doubles tournament, this one featuring the pairing of Djokovic and women’s No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. That’s a lot of personality on one side of the court. “Djokoryna” should be a hoot.

As should Venus Williams, 46, and Russian-Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik paired up.

But elsewhere, the waiting continues, for Alcaraz especially. His absence is felt. Not so long ago, Alcaraz and Sinner had the sport in their grip, unleashing epic matches, trading major titles and elevating over the rest of the field. Sinner versus Alcaraz quickly became one of the best rivalries on earth, giving tennis fresh life after the Big Three.

Sinner’s kept playing dominant tennis, but he seems a little lost without his buddy.

“He’s a player who pushes me to my limits,” he said.

That’s what tennis is supposed to be. Best versus the best, seeing them push the game to its heights. Let’s play the long game here. Take care of that wrist, Carlos. And thank goodness for Eala-mania.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL