Carlos Alcaraz has now endured his longest time away from the ATP Tour due to the wrist injury the star suffered at the Barcelona Open in April.

The star has been out for 151 days, which has forced him out of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and three Masters tournaments on the ATP Tour calendar.

Alcaraz has confirmed his absence will be even longer too, as he has withdrawn from what was supposed to be his return event at the Cincinnati Open.

There are whispers of Alcaraz taking a wildcard at the Winston-Salem Open, but his most likely return date will likely be the US Open at the end of August.

Alcaraz making his return at Grand Slam level is not ideal, particularly due to what Andy Murray said after he returned from a wrist injury.

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The Scot suffered injuries in both wrists during his career and he said it took him a while to get over them, even though he felt fully fit before heading to the court.

“Wrists aren’t easy,” said Murray toward the end of his career. “When the ball is low you know you really have to use your wrist to get the ball up and down, or when the ball is coming fast and quite high you need to use your wrist a lot to bring the ball down.

“It’s difficult when you try to come back [from a wrist injury], because the pain that you feel when you initially hurt it, mentally it’s very difficult to let go of.”

Alcaraz’s wrist injury could also cause repeat issues throughout his career, according to James Ross, who works a physiotherapist at Grand Slams.

“The biggest risk of injury is a previous injury – if you have had it once, you are more likely to have it in the future”, Ross explained in an interview with BBC Sport.

“If a player can get back over a period of a few months and they don’t have a reoccurrence, generally they will be ok,” he said. But some things can become chronic and the pressure of the sport to come back, earn money by playing, and keep your ranking points, is a risk.”

Alcaraz will have plenty of people giving him advice about his wrist, but one thing his fans should be pleased with, is he clearly has the right team around him.

It should be considered a good thing that Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open, because it means he is listening to his body rather than his desire to return to the court.