Carlos Alcaraz has not played since April due to a wrist injury. Clive Brunskill / Getty ImagesAug. 4, 2026 Updated 6:39 pm EDTCarlos Alcaraz has started hitting tennis balls in earnest for the first time since April, but the Cincinnati Open will come too soon for its defending champion.Alcaraz has withdrawn from the event, which starts Aug. 13, as he continues to rehabilitate an injury to his right wrist, the tournament said in a statement Tuesday. The Cincinnati Open, an ATP and WTA 1000 event one rung below the Grand Slams, is the last big tuneup for the U.S. Open, where Alcaraz is also defending champion.The 23-year-old, who won his seventh Grand Slam title at January’s Australian Open and in so doing became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, injured his right wrist during a match at the Barcelona Open a little under four months ago.
Alcaraz is managing tenosynovitis, an injury in which fluid accumulates in the sheath that protects a key tendon in the wrist. The injury has kept him out of two Grand Slams this year to date, with the Spaniard and his team taking a cautious approach to managing the kind of injury that tennis players fear most. Alcaraz pulled out of the French Open a full month before it started, and withdrew from Wimbledon nearly six weeks out.Why tennis players fear wrist injuries more than any otherAva WallaceSpeaking at the Laureus Awards in Madrid in April, Alcaraz said in Spanish: “I have a very long career ahead of me, with many years still to come. Forcing things at this Roland Garros could really harm me for future tournaments.”Alcaraz, who would have been No. 2 seed at the Cincinnati Open because of a calendar quirk, will be replaced in that slot by French Open champion Alexander Zverev. The singles main draws at the U.S. Open start Aug. 30.
