Carlos Alcaraz could not have asked for a better start to his 2026 season, with the star having made tennis history just one month into the new year.<\/p>\n
Fresh off a career-best 2025 season for the world No 1, Alcaraz became the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the Career Grand Slam following his four-set triumph over Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final<\/a>.<\/p>\n Victory for the 22-year-old means he now has a staggering seven Grand Slam titles to his name and has a commanding lead as the world No 1<\/a>, with all signs pointing to another landmark season for the Spaniard.<\/p>\n However, on the back of his historic triumph in Melbourne, his return to court has rather unsurprisingly been delayed.<\/p>\n Alcaraz<\/a> was initially set to return to action just one week after his historic victory in Melbourne, with the Spaniard headlining the field at the Rotterdam Open, from February 9-15.<\/p>\n The Spaniard is the reigning champion at the ATP 500 tournament, having beaten Alex de Minaur in three sets to lift his first-ever indoor title at the event twelve months ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, Alcaraz\u2019s withdrawal from the tournament has now been confirmed, with the tournament releasing a brief statement on social media on Monday.<\/p>\n They wrote: \u201cCarlos Alcaraz won\u2019t defend his title in Rotterdam. The Australian Open champion concluded that after his exertions over the past two weeks, he needs more time to return to action.<\/p>\n Full Carlos Alcaraz Australian Open press conference: His next goals, Djokovic\u2019s aura and more<\/a><\/p>\n What tattoo will Carlos Alcaraz get to celebrate his historic Australian Open triumph?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe wish Carlos a swift recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spaniard\u2019s decision is likely the right one, especially considering the physical and mental demands he has faced in recent weeks.<\/p>\n He will lose 500 ranking points when the ATP Rankings update post-event, though he will still hold a staggering 13,150 points \u2014 giving him a comfortable lead over world No 2 Jannik Sinner<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Alcaraz\u2019s absence, world No 4 Alexander Zverev<\/a> is set to be the top seed at the tournament, with No 6 seed de Minaur<\/a> \u2014 runner-up in the past two years \u2014 set to be the second seed.<\/p>\n Though he has now withdrawn from the Rotterdam Open, Alcaraz\u2019s fans will not have to wait too long until the newly-crowned Australian Open champion returns to action.<\/p>\n The Spaniard is entered into the Qatar Open, an ATP 500 event set to take place from February 16-21 in Doha, following the conclusion of the WTA 1000 event in the city the previous week.<\/p>\n Alcaraz is in extremely good company at the tournament, with a stacked entry list set for the tournament.<\/p>\n He is currently in line to be joined by world No 2 Sinner and world No 3 Djokovic<\/a>, in what will also be their first post-Australian Open tournaments.<\/p>\n Fellow top-10 stars Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik are also currently entered into the event, as are former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev and defending champion Andrey Rublev.<\/p>\n Alcaraz entered the event in 2025 and reached the quarter-finals, beating Marin Cilic and Luca Nardi before a surprise three-set loss to Jiri Lehecka.<\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>: Elena Rybakina schedule: Where will Australian Open champion play across 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n The post When will Carlos Alcaraz play next after confirming withdrawal from post-Australian Open event?<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz could not have asked for a better start to his 2026 season, with the star having made tennis history just one month into the new year. Fresh off a career-best 2025 season for the world No 1, Alcaraz became the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the Career Grand Slam following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why has his return been delayed?<\/h2>\n
Tennis News<\/h2>\n
What is Alcaraz\u2019s next tournament?<\/h2>\n