Carlos Alcaraz sparks injury scare as Turin return overshadowed ahead of latest ATP Finals campaign

Carlos Alcaraz has arrived in Turin to battle it out for a first ATP Finals title. He is among the eight best players in the world looking to pick up the coveted title and goes there as the huge favourite for glory. However, he has left tennis fans questioning how fit he is with taping on his right knee.

The Spaniard has already endured a lot of bad luck this season. A wrist injury picked up at the Barcelona Open has seen him miss a lot of tennis. Six months in the heart of the 2026 ATP calendar that has seen him lose ground on the likes of Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner, the latter coming back into view after his own subsequent injury issues.

The reigning champion was forced to cancel the rest of his 2026 season with a knee problem proving to be very detrimental. This has opened the door for the rest of the field to capitalise in Turin, but Alcaraz being in the form he is in makes him the man to beat.

Nevertheless, the 23-year-old is mortal. He has played a lot of tennis in recent times, and it looks to possibly be catching up with him. On his return to Turin after last year's final loss, he was spotted with some taping on his right knee.

This will obviously cause a lot of concern and worry, especially among Alcaraz fans. He will most certainly be quizzed on this closer to the tournament starting, November 15, but his practice session on the Turin courts seem to be going all smoothly. No discomfort was witnessed with it possibly a precaution ahead of the ATP Finals getting underway.

Tennis had certainly missed Alcaraz when he was gone. As for the players, they may rather him out the way. His first tournament back at the US Open resulted in a quarter-final defeat against Ben Shelton in a thrilling five-set battle. It looked promising for Alcaraz to get through a match of that calibre right after returning.

He defended his Japan Open title before being dumped out of the Shanghai Masters early against Zizou Bergs. A characteristic blemish in the Alcaraz game, in which he is susceptible to an upset result. He was involved in a number of tough and tight contests in a return to Europe, but he quickly found his feet indoors.

He was the master of the tiebreaks in the Austrian capital, taking down Alex de Minaur to win the Vienna Open before finally triumphing at the Paris Masters, seeing off Ben Shelton in a title triumph that bodes well for the upcoming action.

Alcaraz has never produced his best tennis on indoor hardcourts. That arena had been dominated by Sinner for a good few years now, but with him out of contention, Alcaraz is the one stepping up. The seven-time Grand Slam champion has won almost everything the sport can offer at such a young age, but the ATP Finals has never been a competition that he has mastered.

He first qualified in 2022 but was forced to withdraw due to injury. He was convincingly defeated by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the 2023 edition, his debut, before surprisingly failing to make it out of the round robin phase in 2024.

With early exits at the US Open, Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters, it was a tumultuous way to end that campaign. Defeats against Zverev and Casper Ruud saw him miss out. He was back on it in 2025, reaching the final for the first ever time, but fell to the inevitable force that was Sinner.

His main nemesis is not competing this time round. With Alcaraz having won all his indoor matches this season, including Laver Cup, there is no sign that he will be stopped. The rest of the competition will have different ideas, with a hugely intriguing tournament coming up.