MADRID – Carlos Alcaraz will have to make a very difficult decision in the coming days: pull out of the US Open and miss his third Grand Slam of the season, or travel to the United States and compete without having played a match since mid-April.
The immediate outlook remains uncertain for Alcaraz after the Cincinnati Masters 1000 (August 13–23) confirmed on Tuesday that the Spaniard will not be able to compete this year in the final major tournament of the American swing before the US Open.
Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open.
Wishing all the best to our 2025 champion in his recovery process. Can’t wait to welcome you next year! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Ls1PCFtCfk
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 4, 2026
Alcaraz, 23, injured his right wrist in April during the ATP 500 in Barcelona and has not played an official tournament since. He has missed two Grand Slams—Roland Garros and Wimbledon—and four Masters 1000 events: Madrid, Rome, Canada, and Cincinnati. With the Ohio tournament ruled out, where the former ATP World No. 1 was the defending champion, the next stop on his roadmap is New York.
The US Open kicks off at Flushing Meadows on August 30, meaning Alcaraz still has three weeks to recover his right wrist. The seven-time Grand Slam champion returned to racket training just a few days ago, and the feelings within his team have been positive. For now, there have been no major setbacks, and Alcaraz is fully supported by his team. Even Dr. Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro, physician for the Spanish Tennis Federation, traveled to Alicante in recent days to inspect the wrist’s evolution.
Although the initial goal was to return in Cincinnati, the team concluded that taking that risk was not worth it, preferring to tread with extreme caution. If one thing has characterized the recovery process for this injury, it has been extreme prudence. The wrist is a delicate joint that has disrupted careers such as those of Juan Martín del Potro and Dominic Thiem.
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The next two weeks will be decisive. The evolution of the injury will determine the decision regarding the US Open—a choice with major sporting implications. It is by no means an easy call: if he decides not to go, he will miss his third consecutive Grand Slam and his fourth since opening his Major account in the Big Apple in 2022. That would average one Major missed due to injury per season, a concerning statistic at age 23. The figure takes on greater significance when compared to Novak Djokovic’s record: the Serbian tennis player has missed only one Grand Slam due to medical reasons in his entire career (the 2017 US Open due to an elbow injury).
Away from the fight for the ATP No. 1
Withdrawing from the US Open would also mean stepping away from the fight for the ATP No. 1 ranking for a considerable time. He is currently ranked second, more than 5,000 points behind Jannik Sinner, and in a few days, the 1,000 points from his Cincinnati title last year will drop off. If he does not play in New York, he will lose another 2,000 points. However, Alcaraz has repeatedly stated that the No. 1 ranking is not a primary objective—even less so now, after nearly five months out of competition.
If Alcaraz ultimately decides to compete in New York, he will arrive at the tournament after nearly five months without playing a single official match. That is an extremely long period of inactivity to face a two-week tournament featuring best-of-five-set matches and maximum physical demand. There remains the possibility that Alcaraz might seek match practice at a smaller event the week before the US Open. The ATP 250 in Winston-Salem takes place from August 23 to 29 on outdoor hard courts—conditions similar to New York—where he could look for the fine-tuning he will not get in Cincinnati.
