Grand Slam tournament duels between Italy's Jannik Sinner and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz will resume at the US Open in September at the earliest, after Alcaraz pulled out of Wimbledon to continue his recovery from an injury to his right wrist.
The 22-year-old Spaniard withdrew from the Barcelona Open on 15 April after injuring his wrist during his first round victory over Finland's Otto Virtanen the previous day.
He said he would skip the Madrid Masters at the end of April to give himself a chance of recovering in time to defend his French Open men's singles crown.
But on 24 April Alcaraz announced he would not play at the French Open, which starts in Paris on 24 May.
His decision to also miss Wimbledon robs the tennis circuit's most prestigious grass court tournament of a two-time champion – and fans of the chance to see a repeat of last year's final in which Sinner claimed the title for the first time, following a four-set victory over Alcaraz.
"My recovery is going well and I'm feeling much better," he said. "But unfortunately I'm still not ready to play. I am obliged to withdraw from both Queen's [tournament] and Wimbledon."
"These are two really special tournaments for me and I'll miss them a lot," added Alcaraz, who claimed his first grass court trophy at Queen's in 2023. "We'll keep working to come back as soon as possible."
'You want to play against the best'
Following his January triumph at the Australian Open, Alcaraz became – at 22 years and 272 days old – the youngest person to win the men's singles trophy at all four Grand Slam tournament venues in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
"It's sad news for all of us," said Sinner, after Alcaraz said he would not play on the clay courts at the French Open. "Me being a competitor, you want to play against the best players in the world and he's definitely the best player on this surface."
"Being that young, like he is and like I am, we need to look at our bodies first before worse things happen," added the 24-year-old.
Wimbledon begins on 29 June at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in south-west London.
The women's singles final takes place on 11 July and the men's title will be contested the following day.
