Carlos Alcaraz’s injury has changed the landscape of men’s tennis heading into the French Open but fans of the sport should not catastrophise about his wrist problem.
That is according to popular tennis content creator, Gill Gross, who exclusively told Tennis365 about where Alcaraz‘s injury leaves the men’s side of the sport as Roland Garros nears.
The Spaniard completed the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year, as the then world No 1 looked unstoppable.
However, since Indian Wells, Jannik Sinner has been the dominant force, winning five Masters 1000 titles in a row. The Italian beat Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo final, before he picked up a wrist injury at the Barcelona Open in April.
The 23-year-old has not been seen since then and now he is set to miss the French Open and Wimbledon with this sizeable problem.
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According to YouTuber and Tennis Channel commentator Gross, it is natural to draw comparisons with the wrist injuries that hampered Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin Del Potro.
The Austrian was never quite the same after his wrist injury in 2021, while the Argentine was waylaid by knee and wrist issues in an injury-blighted career.
However, Gross thinks that Alcaraz fans should not despair as it is still early days for the seven-time major winner.
He said, “It’s no secret that men’s tennis has been a very firm duopoly for the last two years plus. So when you lose one of the characters in this duopoly, and it becomes a monopoly, that’s pretty impactful in the overall landscape. So it really changes the feel coming into all of these big events this summer. And it’s unfortunate, obviously, from Alcaraz’s perspective.
“You just hope that since it’s a wrist injury, it’s nothing that’s going to linger or take away from what he’s able to do once he gets back. Because I do think tennis fans have a level of trauma from the Thiem and Del Potro wrist injuries in the recent past.
“Not to say that that’s been the norm for wrist injuries, but there’s definitely that fear. So I think right now, take the long-term approach for Alcaraz and just hope that once he gets back, it’s going to be back to how it was before.”
Alcaraz will likely be targeting a return to action in August for the North American hard-court swing, which culminates in the US Open.
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