Carlos Alcaraz, the world No. 2 and two-time defending French Open champion, announced Friday that he is withdrawing from Roland Garros with a right wrist injury. The year’s second Grand Slam will be missing some star power when it starts May 24 in Paris.
Alcaraz received treatment on his right wrist and forearm during a first-round win at the Barcelona Open, on April 14. His clay-court season ended a day later when he pulled out of that tournament, then withdrew from the Madrid Open, which started April 20. Shortly after withdrawing, Alcaraz told reporters at the Laureus Awards in Madrid that he would not rush back from the injury for the sake of defending his French Open title, because it could harm his longterm prospects.
Alcaraz will also miss out on defending the Italian Open title he won last year, which this year starts May 6.
“After the results of the tests carried out today, we have decided that the most prudent thing is to be cautious and not participate in Rome and Roland Garros, while we wait to assess the evolution to decide when we will return to the court. It’s a complicated moment for me, but I’m sure we’ll come out stronger from here,” Alcaraz said in a statement on social media.
Alcaraz has some history with injury at this point in the tennis calendar. He missed last year’s Madrid Open because of an injury to his right adductor, and was returning from a muscle injury to his right forearm during the 2024 edition.
But missing Grand Slams is rare for the Spaniard. He has only missed one major since the start of 2021: The 2023 Australian Open, which he pulled out of with a right hamstring injury. In that same time span, he has collected seven Grand Slam titles. In January, the 22-year-old became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open.
Alcaraz’s withdrawal paves the way for his rival, 24-year-old Jannik Sinner, to play some catch-up. The Italian, who has four Grand Slam titles to his name, is now the clear French Open front-runner.
Sinner also has plenty of motivation to win in Paris. The French Open is the only major title Sinner needs to complete the career Grand Slam, and he lost the final to Alcaraz in an instant classic last year despite holding three championship points.
But Sinner will have to fight off a hungry field of players looking to make the most of Alcaraz’s absence and break the duo’s streak on tennis’s biggest stages, in which they have shared the past nine Grand Slam titles.
Hungriest of all may be world No. 4 Novak Djokovic, for whom history is on the line whenever he competes at a Grand Slam. One more major title, and the 38-year-old from Serbia would be the first tennis player to win 25 singles majors, surpassing Margaret Court. He would also become the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era, which began in 1968.
Djokovic is so laser-focused on the sport’s biggest titles that he rarely competes outside of Grand Slams and ATP Masters 1000 events. In 2025, he played just four such tournaments, three 250-level events and one 500-level event, in Doha, Qatar. This year, he’s played only one tournament, the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, Calif., aside from the Australian Open.
Still, Djokovic is not to be taken lightly — his scant schedule allows him to show up when the spotlight is brightest. He reached the final in Melbourne this year by beating Sinner in a thrilling five-set match. Beating Alcaraz in the very next match eluded him, but in Paris, he will only have to beat one of the two runaway stars in men’s tennis — at most.
‘It’s easy to lose sight of what it means for Alcaraz himself’
Analysis from senior tennis writer Charlie Eccleshare
Given how big a blow it is for tennis as a whole to lose this level of star power at a slam, it’s easy to lose sight of what it means for Alcaraz himself.
He’ll be devastated to miss any major, especially one where he is a two-time defending champion, but he knows that staying healthy long term is far more important. And it says a lot about the chasm that exists between Alcaraz and Sinner and the rest that Alcaraz can drop the 3,000 points he will lose from missing the Italian and French Opens and still potentially hold a lead over world No. 3 Alexander Zverev.
If there are lessons to be learned from all of this, it’s that Alcaraz needs to be careful about how he manages the clay-court swing. This is the third straight year when he has suffered a significant injury during the most physically demanding period of the season, and he’ll surely have to make some sacrifices in the years ahead.
It is not being wise after the event to think that going from straight from a Monte Carlo final against Sinner to playing the first round of the Barcelona Open a couple of days later was risky, even if the injury he suffered against Otto Virtanen in Barcelona was the kind of acute issue on a strange shot that can happen anywhere, at any time.
On the other hand, Alcaraz’s decision to not even leave himself open to the temptation of giving it a go in Paris is surely a good thing. The sport as a whole will badly miss everything that Alcaraz brings over the next month or so, but that reinforces how important it is that he’s back quickly: for his and tennis’ sake.
