Carlos Alcaraz has been urged not to make his comeback from injury at the 2026 US Open in a passionate plea from a former top five ATP Tour player.

The Spanish icon is still on the entry list for the US Open, which will get underway on Sunday 30 August, but his participation is uncertain given he has not played in over four months.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion suffered a right wrist injury during a first round win at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona in April.

Alcaraz is not scheduled to play any events before the US Open, and many feel it would be a risk for him to make his return from a lengthy absence in best-of-five set tennis.

The 23-year-old is the defending US Open champion, having beaten Jannik Sinner in last year’s final to secure his second title at the New York major.

Last week, Jose Luis Clerc — a retired Argentine tennis star who is now a commentator and analyst — told Alcaraz to skip the US Open and make his comeback in Asia.

“Don’t participate in the US Open,” Clerc said in a message directed to Alcaraz while speaking on ESPN Tenis. “You haven’t played competitively since April, and those are five-set matches.

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“Start with the Asian tour to get back to your best; you need to be at your best to win a tournament.”

Former world No 4 Clerc has since appeared on ESPN Tenis again, and he doubled down on his advice to Alcaraz with a short and intense statement.

“Don’t play, Carlitos! Don’t play! Start in Asia like I told you,” Clerc declared.

“Don’t make me mad! Did you hear me?”

El consejo de Batata Clerc a Carlos Alcaraz para el US Open:

​🗣️ “¡No juegues, Carlitos! ¡No juegues! Arrancá en Asia como te dije. No me hagas calentar. ¿Me escuchaste?” pic.twitter.com/s6yBEfPxWR

— Tiempo De Tenis (@Tiempodetenis1) August 18, 2026

Leading injury expert Stephen Smith told Tennis365 that Carlos Alcaraz’s long injury absence is a result of “one of two things.”

“I would think it’s one of two things. It’s either really, really challenging, and he’s still having a lot of symptoms, or they’re being really patient and they’re thinking about how to do this the right way, and how to bring him back and ensure this doesn’t rear its head and they don’t have recurrences,” Smith said.

“Obviously, without being in that team, it’s hard for us to understand which of those that is. But for his sake, you would hope that it’s the latter.”

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