Carlos Alcaraz’s comeback is once again on hold after he withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday.
Alcaraz has not played a tournament since the Barcelona Open in April, when he took a medical timeout during a first-round win over Otto Virtanen and then withdrew prior to his next match. The Spaniard had previously finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
“We know Carlos is doing everything he can to get back to playing tournaments as soon as possible,” tournament director Bob Moran stated. “We wish him the best with his recovery and look forward to welcoming him back to Cincinnati in the future.”
Alcaraz’s next target is the U.S. Open (August 30-September 13), but such hopes appear to be slim with no hard-court warmup events in advance of the season’s fourth and final Grand Slam — unless he takes a wild card into Winston-Salem.
If the 23-year-old does return in New York, he will be the No. 3 seed behind Sinner and Alexander Zverev. The German passed Alcaraz for the No. 2 ranking thanks to a title at Roland Garros and runner-up performance at Wimbledon.
ouch
No surprise.
It’s very unlikely he will play a slam as first tournament back from injury.