Carlos Alcaraz Confirms US Open Return After Four-Month Wrist Absence — With a Little Help From Fabrizio Romano
Carlos Alcaraz will return to competitive tennis at the 2026 US Open, ending a four-month absence caused by a right wrist injury that forced him out of two Grand Slams.
The 23-year-old, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, confirmed his comeback on 20 August in a manner borrowed from football rather than tennis. He enlisted transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano to announce the news on Instagram, using Romano's famous "Here we go" catchphrase alongside a United States flag emoji. Alcaraz echoed the message on his own X account. Romano's post racked up over 167,000 likes and more than 3,000 comments within hours, according to The Guardian.
The timing is as bold as the announcement method. Alcaraz has not played on the ATP Tour — the men's professional circuit — since the Barcelona Open in April, when wrist discomfort in his first-round match developed into an injury serious enough to force his withdrawal from the event (ATP Tour). The same wrist problem then cost him his French Open title defence and a run at Wimbledon. In May, speaking about missing the All England Club, he was blunt: "I'm still not ready to compete" (Olympics.com). He pulled out of the Cincinnati Open at the start of August for the same reason, and had previously withdrawn from the Mutua Madrid Open in April (ATP Tour).
Now Alcaraz will arrive at Flushing Meadows with no competitive matches under his belt since spring. He will defend his US Open title — the tournament where he is the reigning champion — without playing a single warm-up event, a highly unusual approach for a player returning from injury (Tennis Majors). He has, however, been training: footage surfaced of him practising with Denmark's Holger Rune in Murcia in mid-August as both players worked their way back from spells on the sidelines (ATP Tour).
The stage he is returning to is richer than ever. The 2026 US Open, running from 30 August to 13 September, announced a total prize fund of $108 million — a 20 per cent rise for the second consecutive year. Each singles champion will collect $5.5 million, and even a first-round loser walks away with $140,000 (The Guardian).
For tennis fans, the question is simple and stark: can a player who has not competed since April walk straight into the brutal best-of-five-sets format — the longer men's Grand Slam matches that demand sustained physical and mental endurance — and find his rhythm against opponents who have been playing all summer? Alcaraz's name was already on the US Open entry list in July (ATP Tour), but the gap between entry and readiness is exactly what makes this return so compelling.
Seven Grand Slams at 23. Four months away. Zero warm-up matches. One very loud "Here we go."
