Rest and recover - Why Carlos Alcaraz withdrawing from French Open, Wimbledon makes sense

It is the kind of sacrifice no champion wants to make. But when history shows that opting to fight in cases like this may cost both the battle and the war, it is better to retreat.

Carlos Alcaraz is in such a situation. The Spaniard, one half of Sincaraz (Jannik Sinner-Alcaraz) — tennis’s next biggest rivalry since the Big Three era - has been forced to withdraw from this year’s French Open as well as Wimbledon due to a wrist injury.

He had won back-to-back titles on the terre battue at Roland Garros, with last year’s coronation taking place after an epic five-set thriller against Jannik Sinner. Three weeks later, on the pristine grass at the All England Club, he had fallen just short of a three-peat after losing to the Italian in the final.

This season had begun on a historic note as he became the youngest man in history to achieve the Career Grand Slam after defeating Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final. He may have lost to Sinner in the Monte Carlo Masters final and relinquished the No. 1 ranking in April, but it wasn’t anything to worry about.

However, the following week, Alcaraz sustained the injury during his win over Finland’s Otto Virtanen in Barcelona and later pulled out of the tournament before his second-round match. “It is a more serious injury than any of us expected,” said the 23-year-old.

As indicated by the tone of Alcaraz’s statement, wrist injuries in tennis are no joke. If not treated properly, they don’t spare anyone. And just like that, poof, any hopes of winning Majors in the future are out of the window.

The two biggest examples this century are Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem.

Del Potro had a forehand so ferocious that it could send shivers down the spine of his opponent. As a 20-year-old, the Argentine had taken down Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to win the US Open in September of 2009. In the following month, he had to pull out of the second-round match at the Shanghai Masters due to tendonitis in his right wrist. Between 2014 and 2015, he required three surgeries on the other wrist. The South American would be out of the circuit for long spells, and eventually, another Slam title never arrived.

Thiem was deemed to be the challenger for The Big Three, and he had the results to show why that was the case. After consecutive runner-up finishes at the French Open in 2018-19 (lost both times to Nadal), he also reached the Australian Open final in 2020, where he lost to Djokovic in a decider. In the same year, he clinched his maiden Major in New York, defeating Alexander Zverev in a final-set tiebreak. A year later, he injured his right wrist in Mallorca, and while he didn’t opt for surgery, he was never the same.

Even legends like Djokovic and Nadal have faced wrist issues, but both, supported by some of the best professionals in the field of sports and medical science, managed to bounce back after sufficient recovery and rehabilitation.

Following Djokovic and Nadal, precaution and extreme care are what Alcaraz needs to return from tenosynovitis - an inflammation of the tendon sheath of the wrist - and the Spaniard is doing exactly that.

“I’d rather come back a little later and with a full recovery. I need to take care of myself because I want to have a long career,” he said during the Laureus World Sports Awards with his right wrist immobilised in a brace.

In his absence, at times, Sinner’s title victories have felt like foregone conclusions. The Italian World No. 1, who became the youngest man in history to achieve the Career Golden Masters in Rome, has admitted that the sport needs his biggest rival.

But in order to unleash his thunderous forehands and scorching backhands in his future battles with Sinner, nothing short of a fully recovered wrist will work for Alcaraz.

For now, he must wait and watch as the Italian enters the French Open on a 29-match winning streak and a huge chance of completing the Career Grand Slam.

Published on May 22, 2026

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