When Carlos Alcaraz hurt his wrist at the Barcelona Open in April, the reaction was immediate concern. Wrist problems have already altered the careers of some of the game’s most gifted players, including Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin del Potro.

Both men reached the top of the sport and both won Grand Slam titles, yet injuries left their careers with lingering what-ifs. Thiem’s own turning point came at the Mallorca Open in 2021, less than a year after he lifted his first and only Grand Slam trophy at the US Open in 2020. After that, he was never truly able to rejoin the ATP Tour’s top tier. Del Potro’s path was similarly affected by chronic issues in both wrists, which repeatedly interrupted a career of huge promise.

Now Thiem has offered his view on Alcaraz’s recovery and the way the Spaniard has returned to a high level at this year’s US Open. In an interview with El Mundo, the Austrian said: “I expected him to really take his time, to manage the injury well, and I think he has done it.

“With an injury, you need a lot of patience. I didn’t return to playing very soon, but I did go back to training. Everything Carlos did right, I did wrong.”

So far, Alcaraz has done little to suggest the wrist has significantly changed his game, apart from a serve that looks a bit less powerful than before the injury. He has moved into the US Open quarter finals with wins over Roman Safiullin, Jaime Faria, Wu Yibing, and Tommy Paul.

He has conceded only one set in four matches, an impressive return given that he had not played a singles match for four and a half months.

Next comes his toughest assignment yet. Alcaraz will face Ben Shelton for a place in the semi finals, and Shelton’s strong form at Flushing Meadows should provide a serious examination of the Spaniard’s wrist and match sharpness. Even so, Alcaraz has already beaten the American three times, including their only Grand Slam meeting at Roland Garros in 2025, plus meetings at the Laver Cup and the Canadian Open.

Tennis Australia’s new chief executive has suggested the sport should be open to major change, including the possibility of moving away from best-of-five Grand Slam matches and revisiting the scoring format.

Andrew Abdo, who recently replaced Craig Tiley, is already looking at ideas that could alter the shape of the Australian Open. Tiley has since become chief executive at the United States Tennis Association, while Abdo has inherited a tournament that set a new attendance mark in 2026, when more than 1.3 million people went through the gates.

The record crowd has not slowed his ambition. Abdo wants tennis to become Australia’s leading sport, and he believes that could happen within roughly five years. At present, Aussie Rules and Rugby League sit ahead of tennis in participation and popularity, but Abdo sees room for the order to change.

Questions around five-set tennis have been around for some time, largely because of the demands placed on players and fans. Abdo has now spoken publicly about exploring alternatives in order to broaden the game’s reach.

He told the Herald Sun, “Maybe in the future, slams at the different rounds or at different lengths of duration, you know, maybe we’re not playing best of five all the way through, maybe the point scoring system changes.

“Maybe there are different permutations to how we engage and entertain audiences without losing the fabric, and what really makes the sport special.

“I think those are the questions that we need to explore and discover, and I think there’s a place for evolving that. If you listen to the purists, they’ll say, ‘don’t touch that’.

“But actually… if you look at sports around the world, if you’re not thinking about that product in a way that’s contemporary, in a way that’s going to connect with young people, then I think you’re going to be left behind.”

His thinking aligns with comments made by Novak Djokovic in early August, when the 39-year-old called for tennis matches to be shortened and for the ‘advantage’ rule to go.

Abdo added, “There’s a lot to be proud of, but we can’t sit still. We’re No. 3 in Australia at the moment in terms of participation and I think we can get to No. 1 over the next five years.

“We have to be restless, we have to be curious and we have to find new ways to connect to audiences.

“In a couple of months’ time the AO27 will be the best grand slam that we’ve put on… and the vision we have to have is to be not only the best slam in the world, we want this to be one of the most iconic events in the world.”

Carlos Alcaraz has made a strong run to the US Open quarter-finals despite arriving with injury concerns. The Spaniard had not played for four and a half months before the tournament because of a wrist injury picked up at the Barcelona Open in April, a layoff that naturally raised questions about how far he could go at the final Grand Slam of the year.

Those doubts have quickly faded. Alcaraz has advanced by defeating Roman Safiullin, Jaime Faria, Wu Yibing and Tommy Paul, and he has done so with very little resistance. Across his first four matches, he has dropped only one set, a sign that his level has remained high even after such a long absence.

The world No 3 has also been open about a broader shift in how he wants to manage his career. After previously saying he intended to play fewer tournaments because of the demanding ATP Tour calendar, he reiterated that position in his post-match press conference after beating Paul in the round of 16.

“Tennis can be very unpredictable because you don’t know how many matches you’re going to win, whether tournaments will last one match or seven. You can never know for sure,” he said.

“It will depend on how I feel physically, how I feel mentally, whether I need long breaks at the beginning, middle, or end of the season,” said Alcaraz.

He then made clear that his long-term aim is to extend his time in the sport.

“I’d like my career to be very long, to last for the next 10 or 15 years, so I definitely want to take care of my mental and physical health,” he revealed.

“Right now, I want to keep playing, but in such a long career… it will depend; what I am sure of is that I’m going to take those breaks.”

Even with that outlook, Alcaraz has confirmed one ATP 500 appearance for 2026. He is set to play the Rotterdam Open for only the second time in his career, having won the indoor hard-court event in 2025. He was initially due to play it in 2026 before withdrawing at the last minute after winning the Australian Open a few weeks earlier. So far, Rotterdam is the only event he has confirmed for next season.