Carlos Alcaraz‘s clay-court season has already come to an abrupt end. It all came crashing down for the Spaniard at his home event in Barcelona where he sustained a wrist injury during his first-round clash against Otto Virtanen. Alcaraz had to eventually withdraw from the Madrid Open, Rome Masters and French Open. He will now be aiming to make his comeback before Wimbledon. However, Greg Rusedski doesn’t feel that this is going to be an easy task.

The former British No. 1 isn’t sure if Alcaraz will have enough time to prepare for the Grand Slam. The 22-year-old will be hoping to feature in some grass-court events before participating in Wimbledon. But the question is if he will be able to make his return on time.

“It’s a bit disconcerting, because he will miss Paris, which represents two more weeks of absence, for a total of four and a half weeks of stoppage for the moment because of his injury. Will he have enough time, three weeks later, to prepare for the Wimbledon tournament?” he said on his podcast ‘Off Court With Greg Rusedski’.

Rusedski also pointed out that it isn’t easy making the shift from clay to grass and Alcaraz will have to find his rhythm quickly in order to put in a solid performance at Wimbledon.

“Hopefully he’ll be back for the grass season, but that puts a lot of things in question. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that, by the second week in Paris, he will have already found his rhythm. In addition, when you play on clay, the rallies are long and endless, unlike on grass. It’s a little shorter. It’s also a little bit more vivid,” he added.

Despite a strong start to the year, Alcaraz’s season has been completely derailed in the last two months. After capturing the Australian and Qatar Open titles, the World No. 2 was knocked out from the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters by Daniil Medvedev.

Though this wasn’t a disappointing campaign by any means, the same couldn’t be said about Alcaraz’s run at the Miami Open. He was knocked out in the second round by Sebastian Korda 3-6, 7-5, 4-6. The Spaniard then went on to make it to the final of the Monte Carlo Masters but missed out on the title due to a 6-7, 3-6 defeat in the final against Jannik Sinner.

This loss also saw Alcaraz lose his No. 1 spot on the rankings to Sinner. While many had expected the 22-year-old to reclaim the position in the clay swing, he won’t be able to gain any places until he is absent from the tour. He can instead go further down on the rankings if he doesn’t return soon as the players below him will be desperately trying to close down the gap.

Amid these tough times Alcaraz has received support from many fellow players, including none other than Jannik Sinner. The Italian believes that that his withdrawal is “sad” for tennis as a whole.

Jannik Sinner shows his class with heartfelt message for Carlos Alcaraz

They may be rivals on the court, but Sinner and Alcaraz are cool with each other off it. There is a lot of respect between the two, which is one of the reasons why their rivalry has become such a big deal today.

“First of all, tennis needs Carlos. Tennis is much better spirit when he’s around, and also for me personally, it’s nice when he’s around,” Sinner said, reacting to Alcaraz’s French Open withdrawal. “I do believe he’s going to come back stronger than before, but I also believe that it’s good that he and his team take the time, because if you come back too early, then maybe you have a bigger problem afterwards. I send him a speedy recovery, even though it’s painful and very sad for tennis,” Sinner added.

The camaraderie between them was on full display after their clash in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. Alcaraz was seen recording Sinner from a distance as he took on the traditional champion’s pool jump at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. The Spaniard had no bitterness towards Sinner for the defeat and appeared to be happy for his rival.

With Alcaraz being out of action, Sinner will have the opportunity of creating a massive gap between him and his rival on the rankings. The Italian went on to clinch the title at the Madrid Open, claiming another 1000 points. He will now be aiming to continue his red-hot form at the Rome Masters that is set to commence from May 6.