Carlos Alcaraz Injury: Spaniard Likely to Lose Out on Chance of Earning $6,400,000 And No.1 Ranking

Carlos Alcaraz has had a tough time since the high of winning the Wimbledon 2023 title. The World No.2 lost his No.1 ranking to the man he beat in London, Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard is yet to win any tournament after Wimbledon and has now withdrawn from the Basel Indoors tournament in Switzerland due to multiple injuries.

Alcaraz has mentioned before that he is obsessed with his rivalry with Novak Djokovic and practices and plays with the fact that he needs to get the No.1 ranking back from him. Perhaps, that is backfiring as Alcaraz has fallen short against other unlikely opponents too in recent times. With current injuries, it feels like Alcaraz is putting too much pressure on himself and his body because of his rivalry and that could make him lose out on a lot.

What happened to Carlos Alcaraz?

Carlos Alcaraz announced on social media on Thursday that he has withdrawn from the Swiss Indoors Basel tournament owing to a left foot issue and lower back muscular exhaustion. Alcaraz would have entered the Rolex Paris Masters tied with Djokovic in the points department had he won in Basel by scoring 500 points. The Wimbledon champion could have earned an impressive $435,000 USD (410,660 euros) at the most too.

 

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With constant injuries since July, many fans believe that Carlos Alcaraz might end his season prematurely and come back stronger the next season. Should Alcaraz not make it to the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals as well, it would firstly ensure Djokovic bagging the year-end No.1 ranking for the 8th time in his career. And secondly, a tournament win in the Paris Masters would have fetched the 20-year-old nearly $900,000 USD.

In the ATP Finals, the winner is all set to earn almost a $5 million paycheck, following Djokovic’s win last year when he took home $4.8 million from Turin. In total, Carlos Alcaraz could lose out on winning approximately another $6.4 million in prize money after having had an impressive first half of 2023. At the moment, the Alcaraz prize money winnings for 2023 stand at $9.6 million, which is nearly 45% of his total on-court earnings.

Alcaraz’s list of injuries

At just 20 years of age, Alcaraz has already suffered a fair share of injuries. The Spaniard has had to withdraw from a lot of competitions and also missed a few big events owing to these injuries. The Spaniard has endured muscle injuries due to the style of his play.

Alcaraz retired from the Paris Masters and skipped the World Tour Finals in November 2022 owing to an internal oblique muscle rupture in the left abdominal wall. Then, in January 2023, he backed out of the Australian Open due to a muscle ailment in his right leg sustained during training. In the final of the Rio Open in February, the Spaniard suffered a Grade 1 strain in his right hamstring and also withdrew from Acapulco.

Constant injury scares have halted Carlos Alcaraz’s journey. With highs such as winning two Grand Slam titles, and some injury ridden lows, Alcaraz has seen it all at a young age. Still only 20, the Spaniard will hope to make a quick recovery and take the tennis world by storm again.