US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz said on Friday he will miss the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, after injuring his right leg in training. Alcaraz’s withdrawal means defending champion and 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal will be promoted to top seed at the Australian Open which starts in Melbourne on January 16. Novak Djokovic, the nine-time champion and a 21-time Grand Slam title winner, will move into the top four seedings. That will mean he cannot face old rival Nadal until the semifinals at the earliest.
Alcaraz became the world’s youngest world No 1 since the creation of the ATP rankings in 1973 by winning his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open last September. He then became the youngest player in history to finish the year at the top of the world rankings and the first outside of Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to do so since Andy Roddick in 2003. However, an abdominal tear forced him to retire in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters in November which in turn forced him to miss the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin won by Djokovic. Alcaraz also had to sit out the Davis Cup Finals.
Last season, Alcaraz captured five titles as he won 57 times in 70 matches.He started 2022 at 32 in the world and made the biggest rise to finish top in 50 years of the rankings. Alcaraz hit the giant-killing jackpot at Madrid in May when he became the only man to beat both Nadal and Djokovic at the same clay-court event. When he then broke into the world top five in July, he was the youngest man to do so since 2005. His coach former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero believes that if Alcaraz stays fit, he is capable of winning 30 Grand Slam titles.
