Rafael Nadal has already shown Carlos Alcaraz just how serious a wrist injury can be and it should be a massive warning to the 23-year-old.

Alcaraz has confirmed he will not play either Queen’s or Wimbledon, which will continue his absence from the ATP Tour following his withdrawals from the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, and Roland Garros.

Wrist injuries have always been notoriously tricky for top tennis stars, and they’ve cut the careers of the likes of Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem short.

Nadal struggled with a wrist injury during the 2024 season and it took him several years to return to the very top of the sport after being forced out of the US Open due to the issue.

In a statement, the King of Clay said: “[There’s] not much more I can do right now, other than accept the situation and, as always in my case, work hard in order to be able to compete at the highest level once I am back.”

What will worry Alcaraz is just how long it took Nadal to return to his very best following his withdrawal from the 2014 US Open.

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Nadal only played three tournaments in 2024 following the withdrawal, at the China Open, the Shanghai Masters, and the Swiss Indoors.

The Spaniard did not get past the quarter-final stages of any of those tournaments, picking up defeats to Martin Kližan, Feliciano Lopez, and Borna Coric.

The following year, Nadal continued to struggle on the main stages and didn’t win a Grand Slam title in a season for the first since 2009.

He reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, but he fared more worse when it came to Wimbledon and the US Open.

He was knocked out of the second round of Wimbledon by qualifier Dustin Brown and the third round of the US Open by Fabio Fognini.

In fact, Nadal did not win a single Grand Slam title until 2017 following his issues with his wrist. Those came at Roland Garros and the US Open in the 2017 season.

While we are still not sure the severity of Alcaraz’s wrist injury, the blueprint set by Nadal could be a very worrying look into the future for the 23-year-old.

Many will expect Alcaraz to continued to fight for Grand Slams when he returns to the sport, but that could be a long way away at this point.

At this point in time, the earliest date Alcaraz could return to the sport is the Canadian Open, which is set to take place between August 1st and 13th.