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US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz announced on Friday that he will not be able to compete at the 2023 Australian Open or the Care A2+ Kooyong Classic tuneup tournament due to injury. He posted on Twitter that he suffered an injury to the semimembranosus muscle in his right leg while training. It is one of the muscles that is part of the hamstring.
I'd worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia but unfortunately I won't be able to play the Care A2+ Kooyong or the Australian Open. It's tough, but I have to be optimistic, recover and look forward. See you in 2024 @AustralianOpen ❤️
— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) January 6, 2023
Alcaraz is coming off a 2022 US Open victory as the No. 3 seed, capped by a championship match victory over Casper Ruud in four sets. It was his first career Grand Slam title and the first time he’d advanced past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.
Alcaraz is currently No. 1 in the world. He had the second best odds to win the tournament behind Novak Djokovic. The odds have been pulled at DraftKings Sportsbook, but we can likely expect Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal to move up behind Djokovic for the best odds to win the tournament.