Carlos Alcaraz Wimbledon Withdrawal Ends Title Defense at 29 June Start
Carlos Alcaraz Wimbledon withdrawal ends the two-time champion’s run at this year’s tournament before play starts on 29 June. The world number two said he is not yet ready to compete after a right wrist injury forced him out of the grass-court swing.
Alcaraz wrote on Instagram on Tuesday: “My recovery is going well and I'm feeling much better, but unfortunately I'm still not ready to compete, which is why I have to withdraw from the grass-court swing at Queen's and Wimbledon”. He added: “They are two truly special tournaments for me and I will miss them a lot.”
Alcaraz and the right wrist injury
The setback started in the first round of last month’s Barcelona Open, where he injured his right wrist and withdrew from the event. He later pulled out of the French Open to recover, then chose to step away from Queen’s as well. That leaves him out of the grass-court season and most of the clay-court swing.
Alcaraz was the two-time defending champion at Wimbledon before losing last year’s final to Jannik Sinner. The withdrawal strips Wimbledon of one of its biggest names and removes the player who has been the standard on grass for the past two years.
Jannik Sinner Gains Ground
Sinner, who replaced Alcaraz as world number one last month, now moves through the draw with the top player in the rankings no longer in it. He has won the past six Masters 1,000 tournaments, and the two rivals have split the past nine men’s major singles titles, with five of them going to Alcaraz.
Alcaraz began the year by winning his first Australian Open title and became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam. That made this withdrawal more than a routine missed start; it interrupts the player who had been carrying the sport’s biggest head-to-head race into the summer.
“We'll keep working to come back as soon as possible,” Alcaraz said. For Wimbledon, the immediate reality is simpler: the draw opens without its two-time winner, and Sinner’s path to the title just became less crowded.
