Carlos Alcaraz remains among the leading contenders for the US Open despite having missed four and a half months with a wrist injury. The Spaniard was sidelined from April, but his return to competitive singles at Flushing Meadows has begun in controlled fashion.

So far, Alcaraz has moved through Roman Safiullin and Jaime Faria to reach the third round, and he has only dropped one set along the way. That run has done little to alter the sense that he is the player to beat in the draw. His next opponent is Wu Yibing, who earned the meeting by defeating James Duckworth in straight sets.

Daniil Medvedev was asked about Alcaraz’s prospects after advancing himself with a straight-sets win over Sebastian Gorzny. In his press conference, he backed the idea that the biggest names are always the main reference point in major tournaments.

“I think someone like Carlos or Novak as well, even if he is 39 years old. He was the same at Wimbledon and the final of the Australian Open. Yeah, he lost here but things like this can happen. Whenever people like this are in the draw, they are the favourites,” said Medvedev.

“We have no idea how Carlos is going to feel, how his body is going to feel going later into the tournament, but he is definitely the top favourite for the title.

“Usually it’s a mix of things. It is, of course, how you played in Cincinnati and how you played in summer but we just saw Arthur Fils and Brandon Nakashima losing, they had a great summer.

“Then you see the matches that you play here, I am happy with my first two matches. I am looking forward to trying to improve my form. So every tournament is a new story and I want to try and write a good one.”

Medvedev, a former US Open champion, has also seen the path open somewhat with several seeded players already out. Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal and Novak Djokovic’s early exit have changed the shape of the event, while Rafael Jodar, Fils, Andrey Rublev, Cameron Norrie, and Matteo Arnaldi have also departed in the opening rounds. That leaves Medvedev as the sixth highest-ranked player still standing, behind only Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Flavio Cobolli, and Alex de Minaur.

Carlos Alcaraz has made clear that he intends to alter his schedule in the years ahead, insisting that longer pauses from competition will be necessary if he wants to reduce the risk of further injury. The seven-time Grand Slam winner also believes the sport is heading toward an even more serious physical problem unless something changes.

For several seasons, Alcaraz and other leading players have argued that tennis’ demanding calendar is adding strain to their bodies. Their concerns have remained largely unanswered, and this year has brought more examples of the issue they have been highlighting. Alcaraz missed four months because of a wrist injury, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner has been sidelined from the US Open with a knee problem.

Alcaraz suffered the injury at the Barcelona Open in April and returned to action at Flushing Meadows this week. Speaking after his comeback, he again pointed to the 40-week schedule as a major concern and said the demands of the tour will force him to make difficult decisions if he is to extend his career.

“Returning took me more time than I wanted, to be honest. Obviously I didn’t want to have this break because of an injury, but in the future, I’m going to take some breaks, some long breaks.

“Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.

“I think they are adding more important tournaments. In a way, they are forcing us to choose. You can skip one or two, you can decide your calendar, but there are some Masters 1000s, Grand Slams [that you can’t skip] and we are going to play for 40 weeks if we are going to play every mandatory tournament that the ATP requires us to play.

“It’s impossible and we are seeing a lot of players getting injured, a lot of players are getting tired and if they don’t do anything about it, we are going to see it even more [injuries] in the future.

“But for me, taking this break because of an injury, it wasn’t that good, but what I am saying is I am going to take some breaks and miss some tournaments in future for sure.”

He has played 80 matches in 2025, second only to Alexander Zverev, and was 23-3 for the 2026 season after his 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 second-round win over Jaime Faria. Alcaraz said he started the match too quickly and lacked patience in the opening set before settling down.

“The first set, I was feeling great, had a break point and a pretty easy forehand for me that I missed. I was in a rush. I didn’t take time. I wasn’t patient,” he said during his on-court interview. “That cost me the break. Against someone like Jaime, he’s serving like 140 [mph], every serve is really difficult.

“After that, I just tried to be focused and stay calm and think that good things are going to happen again.”

Juan Martin del Potro understands better than most how damaging wrist problems can be for a tennis career.

The Argentine won the US Open in 2009 and established himself as one of the leading players of his era, but injuries repeatedly interrupted his progress. After his Flushing Meadows triumph, he battled severe tendonitis and pain in his right wrist, which forced him out of much of the 2010 ATP Tour season. Four years of trouble with that wrist were followed by two major surgeries on his left wrist between 2014 and 2015.

That background has made del Potro one of the sport’s biggest what-ifs, and it is why he has been closely following Carlos Alcaraz’s latest setback. The Spaniard picked up a wrist injury at the Barcelona Open in April and was then ruled out of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the two Masters events leading into the US Open.

Alcaraz has now returned to competition in New York, opening his campaign with a first-round win over Roman Safiullin to arrange a second-round meeting with Jaime Faria. While preparing for his comeback at Flushing Meadows, he also received direct advice from del Potro.

Speaking to La Nacion, the Argentine said: “We crossed paths in the United States, he was still wearing the splint, and my advice was: ‘Patience with the wrist and don’t touch it.’

“I suffered through it myself, and at that time, not wanting to stop or not wanting to lose that four or five spot in the ranking, I did things that Carlitos doesn’t have to do today.”

Del Potro’s own Grand Slam run after his 2009 title included a quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open and a semi-final at Wimbledon, and those were the deepest major runs of his career.

Alcaraz, the second seed behind Alexander Zverev, is still aiming to defend his title at the US Open. He has also benefited from several seeded exits in the opening round, including Novak Djokovic, Arthur Fils, Matteo Arnaldi, and Cameron Norrie. If he beats Faria, he will face either James Duckworth or Wu Yibing next.