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FILE- Carlos Alcaraz of Spain waves as he leaves Rod Laver Enviornment following his third spherical loss to Matteo Berrettini of Italy on the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2022. Prime-ranked Carlos Alcaraz pulled out of the Australian Open on Friday as a result of of an injured proper leg. (AP Picture/Andy Brownbill, File)
Prime-ranked Carlos Alcaraz pulled out of the Australian Open on Friday as a result of of an injured proper leg.
The 19-year-old from Spain wrote on social media that he bought harm “through a chance, unnatural movement in training.”
The 12 months’s first Grand Slam event begins Jan. 16 at Melbourne Park. The draw is subsequent Thursday.
Alcaraz gained the U.S. Open final September and moved atop the ATP rankings. That allowed him to turn out to be the youngest man to complete a season at No. 1 because the computerized males’s tennis rankings started a half-century in the past.
His rise from No. 32 on the finish of 2021 additionally marked the biggest single-season leap to No. 1.
That is his second vital setback in current months, although. Alcaraz minimize quick final season in November after tearing an belly muscle whereas competing on the Paris Masters. That pressured him to withdraw from the ATP Finals and Davis Cup Finals.
Nonetheless, he closed out 2022 with a file of 57-13 and 5 singles titles.
“I’d worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia but unfortunately I won’t be able to play” at a tuneup occasion in Kooyong or the 12 months’s first Grand Slam event, Alcaraz wrote on Twitter.
“It’s tough, but I have to be optimistic, recover and look forward,” he mentioned.
With Alcaraz out, No. 2 Rafael Nadal — the defending champion in Australia and proprietor of a males’s-record 22 Grand Slam titles — will transfer as much as No. 1 within the seedings for the hard-court event.
The Spaniards turned the primary gamers from the identical nation to say the highest two spots within the ATP on the shut of a season since Individuals Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1996.
Alcaraz’s departure additionally removes a possible hurdle for Novak Djokovic as he returns to Australia and tries to win it for a tenth time to say what could be his twenty second main championship total. Djokovic missed the 2022 Australian Open after being deported from the nation as a result of he was not vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19. He’s nonetheless not vaccinated, however restrictions have eased.
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