At long last, Carlos Alcaraz finally confirmed that he would be playing the US Open, bringing his five-month hiatus away from tennis to an end.

The Spaniard has been missing on the ATP Tour since suffering a wrist injury at the Barcelona Open, which has subsequently kept him out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

It was touch and go whether Alcaraz would be ready to return in time for the US Open, but a post in collaboration with Fabrizio Romana confirmed the news on the 20th August.

On the very same day, Alcaraz was taking to the court in Spain to play alongside Holger Rune, which he has been doing all week with the Dane.

Both men are out of action on the ATP Tour, with Rune suffering an ACL injury at the Stockholm Open last October, which has kept him out for nearly a year now.

With both men looking to get fit ahead of the final section of the ATP Tour, the pair have been stepping up their practices together ahead of the US Open.

More Carlos Alcaraz news

The pair played out a whole match as Alcaraz beat Rune 7-6, 6-2 on Thursday, 20th August at the Spaniard’s academy in Murcia.

Alcaraz will now be heading to New York for the US Open and he is expected to fly to the United States on Monday, 24th August.

There is wild speculation that Alcaraz will play the US Open Mixed Doubles alongside Serena Williams, with the tournament taking place in the Grand Slam’s ‘Opening Week’.

It will provide Alcaraz with a good opportunity to continue to get match practice and the high-profile doubles pairing will undoubtedly be one of the biggest talking points of the whole tournament.

Alcaraz played the inaugural event in 2025 alongside Emma Raducanu, but they were beaten in the first round of the tournament by Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula.

Williams and Alcaraz are expected to be given one of the remaining wildcards, with the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex Eala and Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic also confirmed for the event.

Alcaraz is set for a tense time on his comeback to tennis at the US Open, as he will be defending the full 2000 points after winning the Grand Slam in 2025.

That will put Auger-Aliassime, who is currently the world No 4 on the ATP Tour, within touching distance of the Spaniard, so an early exit for the world No 3 could cause another slide down the rankings.

Alcaraz has already been surpassed by Alexander Zverev in his five-month absence from tennis.