Carlos Alcaraz, the 23-year-old Spanish tennis star, will defend his US Open men's singles title after a four-month layoff caused by a right wrist injury sustained in April 2026 at the Barcelona Open [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
Alcaraz missed three major events this season — the French Open, Wimbledon, and the North American hardcourt swing — due to the injury, which forced him out of competitive singles from April until mid-August [1, 2, 8, 4, 5, 9].
He made his competitive return earlier this week, playing mixed doubles alongside Serena Williams at the US Open, signaling his readiness to compete at high level again [1, 2, 8, 4, 9, 7].
Seeded second behind top seed Alexander Zverev after world No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrew with a knee injury, Alcaraz will open his singles title defense Sunday against Russian Roman Safiullin, ranked No. 98 in the world [1, 8, 4, 6, 9, 7].
Addressing the mental toll of his injury, Alcaraz said, “Once I started to practice a little bit but didn't know when I'm going to [return], those thoughts were really difficult to deal with.” He added he had to trust his team and push forward: “I gotta trust my people that tell me that it’s gonna be fine... with the practices I have done so far, it’s been all good” [2, 7].
Alcaraz said he feels “great” about his wrist recovery and mentally ready to endure five-set matches but still wears a compression sleeve on his playing wrist as a precaution [2, 3, 5, 6, 7]. He emphasized he made no major changes to his playing style despite the injury [7].
He referenced legendary players as proof it is possible to win despite injury setbacks: “I think that many people have shown it. Federer, Nadal, many people have shown that you can win a grand slam after having been injured for a long time or having had a very hard injury” [5].
His peers expect some rust early but see him as a contender. Alexander Zverev said, “I expect him to be maybe a bit rusty the first or second match, but once he gets through that, I think he’s going to be a contender for sure here.” Taylor Fritz noted the difficulty of recovering match rhythm but said, “If you can get past those first couple of rounds, you start to feel pretty good” [3, 6, 10].
Alcaraz also addressed the absence of his main rival Jannik Sinner, saying, “We are not going to see each other for about six months or seven months now... I just wish him all the best. Hopefully a really great recovery” [9].
The 2026 US Open starts Sunday, where Alcaraz will begin his singles campaign aiming to defend the title he claimed last year, bringing a record seven grand slam titles into the tournament [1, 8, 6, 7].
