World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz has confirmed that he will miss this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
as he continues his recovery from a persistent wrist injury, extending a frustrating spell on the sidelines for one of men’s tennis’ biggest stars. The Spaniard had already withdrawn from the French Open earlier this month after failing to recover in time, and he has now also opted out of the entire grass-court swing, including Queen’s Club, in an effort to avoid aggravating the problem further.
Alcaraz sustained the injury to his right wrist during the Barcelona Open in April and has not played competitively since. The setback has already forced him to miss the Madrid Open and Italian Open, significantly disrupting his season at a crucial stage of the calendar.
Announcing the decision on social media, Alcaraz admitted that while his recovery has progressed positively, he is still not physically ready to return to competition.
“My recovery is going well and I feel much better, but unfortunately I’m still not ready to be able to play, and that’s why I have to withdraw from the grass-court swing at Queen’s and Wimbledon,” Alcaraz wrote.
“They are two really special tournaments for me and I’ll miss them a lot. We keep working to return as soon as possible.”
The injury has now ruled Alcaraz out of back-to-back Grand Slams, dealing a significant blow both to the ATP Tour and to fans hoping for another instalment of his rivalry with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
The highly anticipated “Sincaraz” rivalry has rapidly become the defining matchup in men’s tennis over the last two seasons. Their most recent Grand Slam meeting came in last year’s US Open final, where Alcaraz emerged victorious in a thrilling contest at Flushing Meadows.
The pair also split the sport’s biggest titles last season, with Alcaraz winning an epic French Open final before Sinner responded by defeating him in the Wimbledon final.
Earlier this year, Alcaraz became the youngest player in history to complete the career Grand Slam after defeating Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final. However, his momentum stalled after the wrist injury, and he subsequently surrendered the World No. 1 ranking to Sinner following his defeat in Monte Carlo.
With Alcaraz now set to miss Wimbledon as well, Sinner has a major opportunity to strengthen his hold on the top ranking during the remainder of the grass-court season.
For Wimbledon, meanwhile, the absence of one of the tournament’s biggest attractions represents a major setback ahead of this year’s championships.
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