(Paris) A year after the sad Djokovic saga, the Australian Open will once again be deprived of one of its main stars: world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from injury on Friday, damaging the first Major of the season of an epic confrontation between the old and the young wolves.

“While I was in my best shape during the offseason, I injured myself by making a wrong move during training,” explained the Spaniard on his Twitter account, hitting a muscle in his right leg.

“I had worked very hard to reach my best level in Australia,” continues the 19-year-old. “Unfortunately, I will not be able to participate in the Kooyong tournament or the Australian Open”, scheduled from January 16 to 29.

The Major des Antipodes said he was “sorry” for not being able to welcome this year the Spanish prodigy who had been eliminated in the third round last year by the Italian Matteo Berrettini in the tie-break of the fifth round.

For its first participation in 2021, Alcaraz had passed the three qualifying rounds and had reached the second round of the main draw.

“We wish you a speedy recovery. See you soon on the courts, ”adds the Australian Open in its tweet.

“It’s a difficult moment to get through, but I have to stay optimistic, recover and look forward. We will see each other in 2024, Australian Open”, concludes Alcaraz.

No. 1 spot at stake

He became the youngest No. 1 in the world since the creation of the ATP rankings in 1973 by winning the United States Open last September, his first Grand Slam tournament, at the age of 19. He became a few months later the youngest player in history to finish the year at the top of the world hierarchy.

But an abdominal tear forced him to retire in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Paris in November, forcing him to end his season prematurely. He was thus unable to participate in the Masters at the end of the year in Turin, nor then in the Davis Cup in Malaga.

And his absence in Australia could cost him his place as No. 1: Djokovic but also Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas are within range.

His return to Melbourne was expected in particular with a view to a possible duel with Novak Djokovic, the best player on hard courts (nine titles at the Australian Open and three at the United States Open) who had not could not participate last year in the Australian Open or Flushing Meadows, due to his refusal of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine.

This time, the Serb will be there, but not the Spaniard. So much so that the young guard of world tennis loses one of her key weapons in her takeover against former Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, defending champion.

Between them, Djokovic and Nadal have won eleven of the last fifteen Australian Opens and 43 of the last 70 Grand Slam tournaments.

And for the third time in the last five Grand Slam tournaments, a Major will be deprived of the world No. 1: in 2022, Djokovic could not play the Australian Open due to lack of vaccine against COVID-19 and Daniil Medvedev had was refused at Wimbledon because of his Russian nationality.

Despite the absence of Alcaraz, the games are not made for Djokovic and Nadal: finalist of the last two editions of the Australian Major, beaten in 2021 by Djokovic and 2022 by Nadal, Medvedev will aim at 26 for his second Grand Slam title ( after the 2021 United States Open), while Jannik Sinner (21) and Félix Auger-Aliassime (22), who will reach maturity in 2022, will try, like Stefanos Tsitsipas (24), to win their first Major.