Alcaraz withdraws from Cincinnati with wrist injury, leaving US Open defense in serious doubt
The world No. 2 pulled out of the Ohio Masters 1000 event on Tuesday, extending an absence that has already cost him the French Open and Wimbledon.
Withdrawal announcement
Carlos Alcaraz will not defend his Cincinnati Open title. Tournament organizers confirmed on Tuesday that the 23-year-old Spaniard withdrew because of an ongoing right wrist injury that has kept him off the tour since April. Medical evaluations diagnosed the problem as tenosynovitis of the wrist, inflammation of the sheath that surrounds the tendons. The ATP Masters 1000 event runs from August 13 to 23 in Ohio and serves as the last major hard-court tune-up before the US Open.
We know Carlos is doing everything he can to get back to playing tournaments as soon as possible. We wish him the best with his recovery and look forward to welcoming him back to Cincinnati in the future.
A four-month gap
Alcaraz last competed at the Barcelona Open in April, where he pulled out during the 73rd edition of the Trofeo Conde de Godó. The wrist problem subsequently forced him to miss the entire clay swing beyond Barcelona, including Roland Garros, and the whole grass-court season, which meant no Wimbledon. He had already skipped the Masters 1000 in Montreal and now adds Cincinnati to the list of tournaments lost to the injury.
- Alcaraz withdraws from Barcelona Open with right wrist injury
- Misses French Open, unable to defend his title
- Misses entire grass-court season including Wimbledon
- Withdraws from Cincinnati Open (Masters 1000)
- US Open begins — Alcaraz participation uncertain
US Open countdown
Attention now shifts to the US Open, which begins on August 30 at Flushing Meadows. Alcaraz is the defending champion after beating Jannik Sinner in last year's final, and he risks dropping 2,000 ranking points if he cannot compete. Social media clips had shown him hitting on a practice court holding the racket with his right hand, raising expectations of a return in Cincinnati, but the official announcement dashed those hopes. He is on the entry list for the US Open main draw as defending champion, though his name does not appear for the mixed doubles event staged the week before it.
RTVE reports that, should he recover in time, the only remaining competitive test before the US Open would be the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Greg Rusedski, the former British No. 1, told his podcast that Alcaraz must not rush back.
If he doesn't play in Cincinnati, we know the US Open isn't going to happen and he has been out of the game for a long time.
Ranking and title pressure
The world No. 2 won last year's Cincinnati crown when Jannik Sinner retired from the final. The ATP lists him at No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, with a 22-3 record for the season on the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. A prolonged absence threatens that standing, with the US Open points defense looming as the biggest immediate concern. Tournament director Bob Moran's statement emphasized the organization's hope to see him back next year.
What matters now
Alcaraz's team has not issued a separate medical update beyond the tournament statement. The recurrent nature of the wrist issue, first flagged in April, raises the question of whether he will attempt the US Open without any match practice since the spring. Rusedski pointed to the difficulty of jumping from a best-of-three format to best-of-five at a Grand Slam after a long layoff. The next two weeks will likely determine whether the seven-time Grand Slam champion appears in New York or shuts down his season to heal fully.
