Three months have passed since Carlos Alcaraz last played a competitive match on the ATP Tour. A wrist injury sustained at the Barcelona Open in April has kept the Spaniard on the sidelines ever since. Now, his comeback finally appears to be within reach, with final medical clearance standing as the only step between him and a return to competition.

Alcaraz had undergone an MRI and had a full assessment with Dr. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro in June to determine whether he could resume his usual training routines. He had flown to Barcelona again last week to undergo another medical examination, and the signs seemed to be positive. Cotorro is expected to clear him medically later this week, and this could see him make his return next month.

Notably, Cotorro is the same doctor who had examined and cured Rafael Nadal’s injuries for years. He is now working with Alcaraz and has had a big role to play in his recovery process. A serious wrist injury usually takes anywhere between three and six months to heal fully, and the World No. 3 appears to be in the final stages of his recovery.

But it has already been confirmed that Spaniard will not be participating in the Montreal Masters next month. His name isn’t on the tournament’s entry list, which means that his start to the hard-court season has also been delayed. But his absence won’t see him lose any points on the rankings, as he had missed the tournament last year as well.

However, Alcaraz is eyeing a return at the Cincinnati Masters, a tournament where he clinched the title last year. The event will commence on August 13 and will be the final Masters 1000 tournament before the US Open. The Spaniard is expected to participate in the event if he gets the medical clearance in time.

The wrist injury has already cost Alcaraz the biggest layoff of his career so far. The only setback as serious as this one was the internal abdominal tear that he had suffered at the 2022 Paris Masters. He sustained the setback in early November and was returning to the court in January when a hamstring injury struck.

Alcaraz then suffered a hamstring injury during pre-season training. These two injuries resulted in a layoff of 3.5 months and forced him to withdraw from the 2023 Australian Open. But this time, his wrist injury led him to withdraw from two Grand Slams in a row.

Moreover, Alcaraz’s ranking has also taken a hit in the wake of his long absence from the tour. He is now two places behind his rival Jannik Sinner.

Alexander Zverev overtakes Carlos Alcaraz in the rankings

Alcaraz has now fallen to No. 3 on the rankings, as Alexander Zverev has taken over the second spot. The German is among the most in-form players on tour at the moment and clinched his maiden Grand Slam title last month at the French Open.

He followed that up with an unexpected but convincing run to the final at Wimbledon. Though Zverev came up short against Sinner in the penultimate match, this run was enough to see him surpass Alcaraz’s points tally.

Zverev now has 8,480 points under his belt while Alcaraz has fallen to 8,160. A major reason behind this is that the latter had dropped 3,300 points due to his withdrawals from both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

However, Alcaraz may not go any lower, as World No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime currently has 4,740 points under his name. But the injury layoff has seen him lose a lot of ground to Sinner. The Italian stands at the No. 1 spot with a points tally of 13,450. He is not likely to be dethroned anytime soon.