World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz has officially withdrawn from Wimbledon, extending his injury-enforced absence after already missing the French Open earlier this month.
The Spaniard continues to recover from a lingering right wrist injury suffered during the Barcelona Open in April, a setback that has now ruled him out of the entire grass-court season, including Queen’s Club and Wimbledon.
Alcaraz has not played since being forced to retire during his match against Otto Virtanen in Barcelona. Since then, the 22-year-old has also pulled out of the Madrid Open and Italian Open in an attempt to prioritise recovery ahead of the second half of the season.
Confirming the decision on social media, Alcaraz said he was improving physically but was still not ready to return to competitive action. “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 posted.
“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 withdrawal means Wimbledon will be without one of its biggest stars and defending finalists, while fans will also have to wait longer for another chapter in Alcaraz’s growing rivalry with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
The two have emerged as the defining rivalry in men’s tennis over the past two seasons. They shared the sport’s biggest titles last year, with Alcaraz winning a dramatic French Open final before Sinner gained revenge by defeating the Spaniard at Wimbledon.
Their most recent Grand Slam clash came at the US Open, where Alcaraz edged another high-quality encounter to further intensify the rivalry widely dubbed “Sincaraz” by fans.
Alcaraz’s absence is another major twist in what had initially looked like a dominant season for the Spaniard. Earlier this year, he became the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam after defeating Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final.
However, injuries have since derailed his momentum.
After losing the Monte Carlo Masters final, Alcaraz also surrendered the World No. 1 ranking to Sinner, who now has a significant opportunity to extend his lead at the top of the ATP standings during the grass-court season. For Wimbledon organisers and broadcasters, Alcaraz’s withdrawal represents a significant blow ahead of the tournament, with one of the sport’s biggest crowd-pullers set to miss a second consecutive Grand Slam.
Comments are closed.