“I’m coming back. Here we go.”With those six words, Carlos Alcaraz bent the tennis universe back his way Thursday, as he heralded his return to the sport after a four-month absence because of a wrist injury.Alcaraz, the seven-time Grand Slam champion who has been out since April, said he will return in a collaboration post with soccer transfer figure Fabrizio Romano, and even saw fit to throw in the Italian’s catchphrase: “Here we go.”
The 23-year-old Spaniard is defending champion in New York. Assuming his wrist stays healthy during the next week, he will look to renew his rivalry with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner there — but Sinner is yet to confirm his participation after withdrawing from this week’s Cincinnati Open with a right knee injury.Alcaraz is also yet to formally confirm if his comeback will include the singles event. The main draws get underway Aug. 30, but Alcaraz may be on court sooner than that. The U.S. Open still has three wild cards to hand out for its mixed doubles tournament, which runs Aug. 24 through Aug. 26.
Alcaraz could pair with Serena Willimas, a megastar and the greatest player of the modern era, to form a tantalizing duo. The mixed doubles could serve as a useful test run to determine whether Alcaraz’s wrist has healed enough for the rigor of five-set tennis — an imperfect indication, but a better one than going in cold.Alcaraz has been 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, with the Spaniard and his team taking a cautious approach to managing the kind of ailment 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.His latest withdrawal, from Cincinnati, was much closer to the start of the event, a sign that his comeback was nearing. Now it is in full view. As Alcaraz himself would say, it appears, here we go.
