Carlos Alcaraz has announced his withdrawal from the Australian Open after suffering a hamstring injury in training.
Alcaraz, the world No 1 and reigning US Open champion, had planned to begin his build-up to the season’s first grand slam at an exhibition event in Kooyong next week. Instead, the 19-year-old will be forced to sit out yet another big event with injury, after missing the season-ending ATP Finals and Davis Cup finals with an abdominal tear sustained at November’s Paris Masters.
“When I was at my best in pre-season, I picked up an injury through a chance, unnatural movement in training,” wrote Alcaraz on social media. “This time it’s the semimembranosus muscle in my right leg.
“I’d worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia but unfortunately I won’t be able to play the Care A2+ Kooyong or the Australian Open. It’s tough, but I have to be optimistic, recover and look forward. See you in 2024 @australianopen.”
The absence of the Spaniard marks an unwelcome blow not only for Alcaraz, who could now be overhauled in the rankings after becoming the youngest No 1 in history following his victory at Flushing Meadows last September, but also for the tournament itself. The Australian Open has been beset by challenges in recent times with bushfires, Covid and Novak Djokovic’s deportation all posing difficulties over the past three years.
Alcaraz was beaten by both Ruud and Andrey Rublev at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi last month, but has not played an official match since 4 November, when he pulled out late in the second set of his Paris Masters quarter-final against Holger Rune. Beaten by Matteo Berrettini in the third round of last year’s Australian Open, the teenager had only 90 points to defend and will rue the lost opportunity to cement his position at the top of the rankings.
Alcaraz’s absence means that Rafael Nadal, the defending champion, will become the top seed at Melbourne Park. But the biggest beneficiary of the teenager’s withdrawal is likely to be Novak Djokovic, who will be bumped up to fourth seed. Currently ranked fifth, the nine-time winner previously faced the prospect of having to go through three of the world’s top four players to claim the title; now he cannot face Nadal, Casper Ruud or Stefanos Tsitsipas before the semi-finals.
Djokovic will face Daniil Medvedev, the runner-up at Melbourne Park last year, in the semi-finals of the Adelaide International on Saturday. The Serb, who has been well received on his return to Australia, eased past Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last four, while Medvedev beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3. Sebastian Korda, a 7-5, 6-1 winner over Jannik Sinner, will meet Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in the other semi-final.
Alcaraz may not be the only high-profile absentee at the Australian Open.
Emma Raducanu, who was forced to retire from her second-round match against Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova in Auckland after suffering a sprained ankle, will travel to Melbourne but is still awaiting news on the severity of her injury.
And hope is dwindling that Naomi Osaka, the champion of 2019 and 2021, will compete. Osaka, who last played in September, remains on the official entry list but has only just returned to the US after visiting Europe with her partner, the American rapper Cordae.