Carlos Alcaraz 2026 season up in the air as latest updates showcase long way back to competition

As the grass swing is set to come to a halt in the coming days, there is still no sign of Carlos Alcaraz, or even worse when he will officially return to the court. There are fears that the wrist injury sustained earlier this year is more serious than feared and taking longer to recover as speculation rises whether tennis fans will be able to watch him again in 2026.

All of this started at the Barcelona Open where a sharp influx of pain in his right wrist saw Alcaraz decide to pull out of the tournament in Catalonia, followed by the Madrid Open for the second year running.

Missing out on his home events were a painful blow, but also as it turns out not a precaution. The seriousness of the injury showed itself in the coming weeks as Alcaraz announced that would withdraw from his title defences at the Rome Open and most significantly Roland Garros. The grass swing soon followed with Wimbledon another bitter blow for the 23-year-old who has been forced to watch all the tennis that has been played out, desperate to get back on the court.

He had begun the 2026 season in the best way possible. He became the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam after taking home the Australian Open title in a thrilling battle against Novak Djokovic. He then kept the winning going with the Qatar Open added to his growing collection.

His campaign would slightly spiral out of control. His first loss came against Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final of Indian Wells before being stunned in a hugely surprising upset in the third round of the Miami Open against Sebastian Korda. A reality check was incoming when Jannik Sinner stole the number one tag back off him at the Monte-Carlo Masters, defeating him in the final and asserting his dominance on clay. From then, the Italian has been almost unbeatable while Alcaraz has been stranded on the sidelines.

On his Instagram page, Alcaraz has been regularly updating his fans with his progress and recovery. Due to those hasty withdrawals from the Grand Slam tournaments, that caused for much concern with a timeframe for his return tricky to say.

He has since got back to hitting the ball with his right arm. The Spaniard has been keeping fit in this time, slowly working his way back to full fitness. First playing with his left arm while continuing to stay sharp with movement drills, a week ago he posted a significant update which saw him hit the tennis ball with his right arm, signalling progress with his recovery.

This was while Wimbledon was ongoing, and he was not hitting the ball very hard or over a long distance. With the North American swing seemingly his overall target, that wrist will need to go through a lot more load if he is going to find the power to compete at the highest level once more. Fans would hope that his latest update would be more promising. This came a day ago in a slideshow of videos and pictures, showing him again not hitting the ball with loads of power or over a great distance.

He is not set to feature in the Canadian Open with his title defences at the Cincinnati Open and US Open also under threat at this moment in time. Whether he will be able to step back onto the court for these tournaments or if he is set for a longer, more frustrating period away from the sport will soon be answered. Despite this, the way he was hitting the ball a week ago does not showcase someone that will be competing anytime soon.

However, the all-clear may be closer than many think. A report in La Verdad has stated the opposite, hinting that Alcaraz will soon be back in full training as soon as next Monday. “The Murcia-born player is due to undergo a final medical check-up next Friday. Barring any last-minute complications, everything seems to suggest that Alcaraz could be given the all-clear to return to training and begin preparing for the hard-court tour.”

The Cincinnati Open takes place from August 13-26. The seven-time Grand Slam champion will hope for some on court preparation ahead of his US Open title defence, if he participates, which begins at the end of August. Now down to world number three following Alexander Zverev's run to the Wimbledon final, there is a lot of work to do to get back to the levels he was once playing at.