Carlos Alcaraz has now gone through his longest spell away from the ATP Tour after the wrist injury he picked up at the Barcelona Open in April.

The injury has kept him out for 151 days and has already ruled him out of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and three Masters events on the ATP Tour calendar. His comeback will take even longer, with Alcaraz confirming that he has also pulled out of what had been lined up as his return at the Cincinnati Open.

There has been talk of a wildcard appearance at the Winston-Salem Open, but the likeliest stage for his comeback now appears to be the US Open at the end of August.

A return at Grand Slam level would not be straightforward. Andy Murray offered a clear reminder of how difficult wrist injuries can be when he reflected on his own experience later in his career.

“Wrists aren’t easy,” said Murray toward the end of his career. “When the ball is low you know you really have to use your wrist to get the ball up and down, or when the ball is coming fast and quite high you need to use your wrist a lot to bring the ball down.

“It’s difficult when you try to come back [from a wrist injury], because the pain that you feel when you initially hurt it, mentally it’s very difficult to let go of.”

James Ross, a physiotherapist who works at Grand Slams, has also pointed to the likelihood of repeat problems after a previous injury.

“The biggest risk of injury is a previous injury – if you have had it once, you are more likely to have it in the future”, Ross explained in an interview with BBC Sport.

“If a player can get back over a period of a few months and they don’t have a reoccurrence, generally they will be ok,” he said. But some things can become chronic and the pressure of the sport to come back, earn money by playing, and keep your ranking points, is a risk.”

For Alcaraz, the decision to step away from Cincinnati may ultimately be the sensible one. It suggests he is taking his body seriously rather than forcing a return before he is ready.

In tennis, greatness is often reduced to a single number: Grand Slam titles. But two legends of the sport have long argued that the measure is not as complete as it appears.

As the achievements of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic continue to define the men’s game, the conversation usually begins and ends with major counts. Djokovic has been presented as the leader of that era, with 24 Grand Slam titles compared with Nadal’s 22 and Federer’s 20. His pursuit of a 25th major remains one of the few reasons he is still competing after turning 39 last May, a milestone that would move him one ahead of Margaret Court on the all-time list.

Yet that record may flatter the modern landscape less than it seems. In the 1970s and 1980s, many leading players did not regularly enter the Australian Open, and that absence had a major effect on career totals. The same was true for other events, with some of the sport’s biggest names choosing different priorities at different stages of their careers.

Martina Navratilova is one of the clearest examples. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, but she skipped 12 Australian Opens and also missed 12 French Opens. “We didn’t play in Australia for a long time,” said Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles. “Back in our day, playing on the women’s tour and trying to build that up was more important than playing in Australia, but all we hear about now is the Grand Slam record.

“The reality is, it was different when we were playing. If Chrissie (Evert) and I had played every year in Australia and also at the French Open for me, maybe I would have more Slams now, but it was different then.”

Chris Evert’s record tells a similar story. She won 18 Grand Slam titles, yet missed 12 Australian Opens and six French Opens. John McEnroe also lost chances to add to his seven major titles, sitting out ten Australian Opens and six French Opens. Bjorn Borg played the Australian Open only once, while Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi missed many editions of the year’s first major.

Djokovic’s chase for 25 remains significant, but the broader point is harder to ignore. In a different era, the totals for Navratilova and Evert could have been much higher, and Djokovic’s own Grand Slam target might already have been well beyond 30.

Novak Djokovic’s recent comments on tennis scoring have sparked debate, and Joao Fonseca has now responded with his own perspective.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion has argued for several changes to the sport, including sets played to four games instead of six, a format already used at the NextGen Finals. He also proposed removing the advantage point and placing a two-hour limit on matches, saying those adjustments would be “best for everyone”.

Fonseca, who was asked about the subject at the Canadian Open, pointed to his experience in the NextGen Finals when weighing up the idea. Speaking about his time playing in the NextGen Finals, the Brazilian said: “Well, I had a good time playing 4 games, 4-game sets in the Next Gen. So I can’t complain about it.”

The Brazilian won the event in 2024 after beating Learner Tien in the final, a result that helped establish him as one of the most exciting young players on the ATP Tour. He then suggested Djokovic’s push for reform may be linked to the physical demands of the game.

“But I think he’s saying that because of his physique, you know. He’s getting older. Well, that’s what I can say,” said Fonseca in a brutal put-down.

He expanded on that point by stressing the importance of the traditional format. “I mean, I don’t say bad things or good things, but I know it’s more about the classic tennis, the history of tennis and the tennis being 6 games during the sets, it’s important.

“I think it’s classic tennis. It’s the history of tennis,” added the teenager. “So, yeah. But I can’t complain because I had good results with it.”

Fonseca was speaking after recording his first win at the Canadian Open. He defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets to reach the third round, where Casper Ruud awaits in a rematch of their Roland Garros meeting.

Their previous clash came in the fourth round of the French Grand Slam, a controversial four-set match that went Fonseca’s way after a missed out call would have given Ruud the third set. Fonseca had never before advanced beyond the first round in Montreal, so this already marks a career-best showing at the event.

He is currently world No 26 in the ATP Tour rankings, two places shy of his career high, and another step forward in Montreal would add to that progress.