Top seed Carlos Alcaraz has pulled out of the Barcelona Open with a wrist injury.
The 22-year-old Spaniard beat Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in straight sets in his first-round match on Tuesday but suffered from discomfort during the contest.
Alcaraz had been due to play Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic on Thursday but following medical tests on his right wrist has withdrawn from the tournament.
“I felt my wrist give out on a return during the match. After the tests, we saw that it’s a more serious injury than any of us expected, and I have to listen to my body so it doesn’t affect me in the future,” said Alcaraz, who was replaced as world number one by Jannik Sinner earlier this week.
“I have to go home to start my recovery as soon as possible with my team – the doctors, and the physical therapist – and get, or try to get, as healthy as possible as soon as possible for the tournaments I have coming up,” he said.
Alcaraz will be hoping to be fit in time to try to win the French Open for a third consecutive time, with the 2026 tournament starting on 18 May.
He had returned to action in Barcelona just 48 hours after he was beaten in the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters by Sinner.
That victory meant the Italian returned to the top of the rankings for the first time since November.
Alcaraz, who won the Barcelona Open in 2022 and 2023 and was a beaten finalist last year, would have regained top spot from Sinner had he won this year’s edition.
It is the second time in three years injury has forced Alcaraz to withdraw from the clay-court tournament in the Catalan capital.
