{"id":1945608,"date":"2026-05-20T15:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1945608"},"modified":"2026-05-20T15:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:00:34","slug":"what-happened-when-rafael-nadal-returned-from-a-wrist-injury-should-be-a-major-worry-for-carlos-alcaraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1945608","title":{"rendered":"What happened when Rafael Nadal returned from a wrist injury should be a major worry for Carlos Alcaraz"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">What happened when Rafael Nadal returned from a wrist injury should be a major worry for Carlos Alcaraz<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/liam-mcmillen\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Liam McMillen                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"20 May 2026 4:00 PM\" data-ps-date=\"20 May 2026 4:00 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1779289234\"><br \/>\n                            20 May 2026 4:00 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on 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href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-features%2Fwhat-happened-when-rafael-nadal-returned-from-a-wrist-injury-should-be-a-major-worry-for-carlos-alcaraz\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 dark:hidden h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_light.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn-hidden\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"What happened when Rafael Nadal returned from a wrist injury should be a major worry for Carlos Alcaraz\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Carlos-Alcaraz-and-Rafael-Nadal-celebrate-Australian-Open-titles-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal celebrate Australian Open titles\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal celebrate with Australian Open trophies                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\"><!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Alcaraz has confirmed he will not play either Queen\u2019s or Wimbledon, which will continue his absence from the ATP Tour following his withdrawals from the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, and Roland Garros.<\/p>\n<p>Wrist injuries have always been notoriously tricky for top tennis stars, and they\u2019ve cut the careers of the likes of Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem short.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/rafael-nadal\">Nadal<\/a> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/us-open\">US Open<\/a> due to the issue.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the King of Clay said: \u201c[There\u2019s] 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What will worry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/carlos-alcaraz\">Alcaraz<\/a> is just how long it took Nadal to return to his very best following his withdrawal from the 2014 US Open.<\/p>\n<h2>More Carlos Alcaraz news<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/the-british-star-who-will-benefit-from-carlos-alcarazs-withdrawal-from-wimbledon\">The British star who will benefit from Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s withdrawal from Wimbledon<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/alex-corretja-ignorance-bad-faith-carlos-alcarazs-wimbledon-injury-blow\">Alex Corretja fed up of \u2018ignorance and bad faith\u2019 following Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s Wimbledon injury blow<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nadal only played three tournaments in 2024 following the withdrawal, at the China Open, the Shanghai Masters, and the Swiss Indoors.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard did not get past the quarter-final stages of any of those tournaments, picking up defeats to Martin Kli\u017ean, Feliciano Lopez, and Borna Coric.<\/p>\n<p>The following year, Nadal continued to struggle on the main stages and didn\u2019t win a Grand Slam title in a season for the first since 2009.<\/p>\n<p>He reached the quarter-finals of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/australian-open\">Australian Open<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/roland-garros\">Roland Garros<\/a>, but he fared more worse when it came to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/wimbledon\">Wimbledon<\/a> and the US Open.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>While we are still not sure the severity of Alcaraz\u2019s wrist injury, the blueprint set by Nadal could be a very worrying look into the future for the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happened when Rafael Nadal returned from a wrist injury should be a major worry for Carlos Alcaraz Liam McMillen 20 May 2026 4:00 PM Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal celebrate with Australian Open trophies Rafael Nadal has already shown Carlos Alcaraz just how serious a wrist injury can be and it should be a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1945608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1945608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1945608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1945608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1945608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}