Carlos Alcaraz drew attention earlier in the season when he said he would play fewer tournaments after spending four and a half months out with a wrist injury. Since returning to singles at the US Open, the Spaniard has moved into the quarter finals with little trouble.

After his second-round win over Jaime Faria in New York, Alcaraz made his position clear. “In the future, I’m going to take some breaks,” said Alcaraz after defeating Jaime Faria in the second round of the New York Grand Slam. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.”

That comment led many to expect that ATP 500 events and selected Masters tournaments would be the first to disappear from his calendar. Sam Querrey and John Isner even suggested he might skip stops in Miami and Canada.

Against that backdrop, one of his earliest confirmed tournaments for 2027 comes as a surprise. Alcaraz has been announced for the Rotterdam Open, an indoor event in February after the Australian Open. The ATP 500 tournament confirmed the news on social media, writing: “First indoor title. First Rotterdam trophy. He couldn’t be there in 2026. Now he’s coming back. CARLOS ALCARAZ. ROTTERDAM. 2027.”

The Spanish star had been due to play Rotterdam this year, but his run to the Australian Open title forced him to withdraw from the indoor event. He did play there in 2025 and won the title, marking the first time he entered the Dutch tournament.

The decision is notable because Rotterdam comes quickly after the Australian Open and immediately before the Middle Eastern swing, which includes Dubai and Qatar. Those events are known to be highly lucrative for players such as Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, with both receiving $1.2 million for appearing in the ATP 500 event this year.

If he does play that stretch, Alcaraz could already have five tournaments behind him before the clay court swing begins, a demanding start that sits uneasily with his stated wish to take more time away from competition.

Jannik Sinner’s absence continues to be felt at the 2026 US Open, and the world No 1 has offered a short update on the right knee issue that forced him out of the tournament.

The 25-year-old Italian has not competed since beating Alexander Zverev in four sets in the Wimbledon championship match on 12 July. He later missed the Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati before pulling out of the US Open.

Last week, Sinner posted on Instagram and said missing the final Grand Slam of the season was “tough”. He wrote: “Missing the US Open this year is tough,” wrote Sinner. “I was looking forward to being back with the fans, seeing friends and partners.

“New York has a special place in my heart. For now, back to recovery and working to come back stronger. Good luck to all the players! See you soon”

Sinner, who is known to be a Formula One fan, was at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix on Sunday and was asked about his knee. Speaking to Italian newspaper la Repubblica, he said: “The knee? It’s all fine,”

He has not yet said when he plans to return, although he remains on the entry list for his scheduled tournaments after the US Open. Sky Sport Italy reported last month that “the primary option on the table” was a comeback during the Asian swing in Beijing and Shanghai.

Sinner is the reigning China Open champion, and the 2026 ATP 500 event in Beijing begins on 30 September.

When he announced his US Open withdrawal, Sinner said: “Even though I have been working hard with my team and my medical staff, we have now had to make the difficult decision that I will not be able to compete at the US Open this year.

“We have been back on court in Monte Carlo over the last couple of days and have realised that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue.

“I’m obviously very sad and disappointed, as New York has a special place in my heart.”

Greg Rusedski has suggested that Carlos Alcaraz’s wrist problem may have been the result of overloading his schedule, and he said exhibition appearances did not help.

Alcaraz was riding high after becoming the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open at 22. For a time, he appeared to be pulling clear of the rest of the ATP Tour, including Jannik Sinner. But Sinner responded by winning the Sunshine Double and then beating Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo Masters final.

A wrist injury then emerged in mid-April and kept Alcaraz out for more than four months. The 23-year-old has returned strongly at the US Open, yet he has already indicated that he wants to build more rest into his future planning.

Alcaraz told reporters this week, “ In the future, I’m going to take some breaks. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.”

Rusedski, a former US Open finalist, believes the issue is about balance and said he thinks Alcaraz and his former coach Juan Carlos Ferrero may have disagreed over the value of exhibition events. On Off Court, he said, “Well, I think a certain coach by the name of Juan Carlos Ferrero was talking about stop chasing the money at the exhibitions, let’s get a proper schedule, let’s figure out how we’re going to work this financially between the two of us, and he’s finally figured it out.

“Why did he [Alcaraz] get injured? He overplayed. It’s as simple as that. You cannot play every exhibition during the off season, expect to be fit and not break down. It’s humanly not possible, no matter how great you are.”

Ferrero had previously defended Alcaraz’s decision to play exhibitions ahead of his match against Frances Tiafoe in Puerto Rico in February 2025, saying, “They allow you to relax a little, they are played in a different way. But there’s a certain level of intensity and demand. Playing this type of match with a smile, putting on a show for the fans, it always helps to relax a bit.”

Rusedski also noted that Alcaraz played the second-most matches behind Alexander Zverev in 2025, while also appearing in the ‘Netflix Slam’ with Rafael Nadal in 2024, the Six Kings Slam in the past two years, and with Joao Fonseca in Miami in 2025.

He concluded that Alcaraz will need to manage his body more carefully going forward and accept that every exhibition cannot be part of the calendar.