Carlos Alcaraz has signalled his potential return to competitive tennis by entering next month’s Cincinnati Open, offering hope he is nearing recovery from a wrist injury.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion has been sidelined since sustaining the problem during April’s Barcelona Open, forcing him to miss the defence of his French Open title and Wimbledon.
He could only watch on as Alexander Zverev won his maiden grand slam title at Roland Garros, while Jannik Sinner then defended his Wimbledon crown by beating Zverev over four sets in Sunday’s final.
While Alcaraz has recently shared videos of himself making a tentative return to the court, the Masters event in Cincinnati, commencing on 13 August, appears to be his target for a comeback.
The 23-year-old is not listed for the preceding National Bank Open in Montreal, but playing in Cincinnati would provide crucial match practice ahead of the US Open later in August, where he is also the defending champion.
Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu is notably absent from the entry lists for both events as she continues her recovery from a stress fracture in her lower right leg.
The British number one withdrew from Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament due to the injury and faces a race against time to be fit for the US Open, which begins on 30 August.
Jack Draper, who also missed Wimbledon due to a recurrence of bone bruising in his arm, is scheduled to return in Washington at the end of this month. However, with his ranking having fallen outside the top 100, Draper would require wildcards to enter the main draws in Canada and Cincinnati.
In contrast, new British number one Arthur Fery, whose ranking has soared to 36 following his impressive run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, earns direct entry to a Masters event for the first time in Cincinnati.
Fery began the tournament ranked outside the top 100 and required a wildcard, but he put together a fairytale run before eventually falling short against Zverev in the semi-finals.
He was the only British singles player to make it to the second week of Wimbledon and will be hoping to build on that success as the ATP Tour returns to the hard courts of North America.
