Carlos Alcaraz gives injury update, wants to ‘stand up & be stronger than ever’ | ATP Tour

Alcaraz gives injury update, wants to ‘stand up & be stronger than ever’

Spaniard was speaking at Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid

April 21, 2026

Carlos Alcaraz remains hopeful of a swift return to court despite being forced to pull out of the Mutua Madrid Open due to a wrist injury.

“This happens for professional sportsmen,” Alcaraz said at a press conference on Monday night at the Laureus World Sports Awards, where he was named World Sportsman of the Year. “At the end of the day, you just have to stand up and try to be stronger than ever, and hopefully I’ll be able to be on the field very soon.”

Carlos just can’t stop winning 🏆

Career Grand Slam ✅
First Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award ✅#Laureus26 pic.twitter.com/sE0zblqAMr

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 20, 2026

Alcaraz was unable to give any more precise information on when exactly he would be able to return to court. The 22-year-old, who is 22-3 for the season according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, said he was set to undergo another test on the right wrist injury, which initially forced him to withdraw before his quarter-final at last week’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

“This is another test on top of the ones I already did,” clarified the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I had a small test already. But we wanted to wait for a bit and then run another test. It’s not a different one actually, it’s just another one in order to see how it is evolving, after one week of rest. And after that we’ll decide.”

Whatever happens, Alcaraz has no intention of returning to action before his body is ready. The 26-time tour-level champion is taking a ‘big picture’ approach to his recovery.

“We’ll see what comes out of those tests. Let’s see what happens,” said Alcaraz, who is second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin having already lifted titles at the Australian Open and in Doha this year. “I’d rather come back a little later and with a full recovery. I need to take care of myself because I want to have a long career.”

Alcaraz’s withdrawals from Barcelona and Madrid have resulted in him falling further behind Jannik Sinner in the battle for World No. 1. Yet Alcaraz says he is prepared to be patient as he attempts to catch his great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival Sinner, who replaced the Spaniard in top spot after winning the pair’s championship-match clash earlier this month at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

“I’m not worried about it, and actually in Monte Carlo I said that I was doing well, I did not have an injury, and I was about to lose my No. 1 position anyway,” the Spaniard said. “So it isn’t much, actually. It’s a very nice fight we have for a few weeks. He’s No. 1, then I’m No. 1, now [he keeps] the position for a bit more time.

“This is a long run, and we’ll try to do things the best way possible, and hopefully the No. 1 ranking will come back if we do things right. So the main thing here is to try to get better, of course, and then try to keep the things the right way. To keep training, and hopefully we’ll get that No. 1 rank again very soon.”