Carlos Alcaraz is taking no chances with his tennis future, having decided to abandon his French Open title defence to ensure he overcomes the most dangerous foe he’s yet faced in his stellar career.

The 22-year-old won’t go for a hat-trick of Roland Garros titles, and also won’t defend his Italian Open crown in Rome, as he attempts to defeat the wrist injury that’s rudely interrupted another potentially triumphant season following his Australian Open victory.

The news has stunned the sport, and left his greatest rival Jannik Sinner wishing him well on Friday, declaring: “It’s painful and very bad for tennis”.

Even more than four weeks before he was due to open up on Court Philippe Chatrier in a bid for grand slam title No.8, the Spaniard recognised that overcoming the potential long-term problem of an injury to his right wrist is his absolute priority.

“After the results of the tests carried out today, we have decided that the most prudent thing is to be cautious and not participate in Rome and Roland Garros, while we wait to assess the evolution to decide when we will return to the court,” Alcaraz explained in a statement on Friday.

“This is a difficult time for me, but I am sure we will come out of it stronger,” vowed the man who also holds the US and Australian Open titles.

Alcaraz suffered the injury in the first round of the Barcelona Open earlier this month before withdrawing gloomily from the tournament.

But he clearly recognised, when collecting his Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award in Madrid on Monday, that there was a bigger picture at play.

“I have a long career ahead of me. Forcing for Roland Garros could penalise me enormously in the future,” he said then.

So, for the moment, his march into more tennis history has been checked following the Melbourne Park triumph in January that made him the youngest man in history to complete the career grand slam of all four titles.

Instead, Sinner, the Wimbledon champion, will now be an overwhelming fancy to emulate him and complete his own grand-slam set with the clay-court prize in Paris.

But the Italian was busier thinking about his stricken rival after he earned victory over Benjamin Bonzi in his second-round match at the Madrid Open on Friday, saying: “Tennis needs Carlos - tennis is a much better sport when he’s around.

“I do believe he’s going to come back stronger than before, but injuries are always tough, especially a wrist.

“There’s certain areas of our body that are very sensitive. We saw with also other players in the past that wrists, they can complicate our life, so I hope he’s going to come back and will not have any further injuries.”

This will be the first time Alcaraz has sat out a grand slam since making his debut at the Australian Open back in 2021, with a hamstring problem stopping him from playing in Melbourne two years later.

He beat Alexander Zverev for his first title at Roland Garros in 2024 and would have been strongly fancied to make it three in a row, having defeated Sinner in last year’s marathon five-hour 29-minute final that was hailed by some as the best tennis match ever played.

Sinner has also recently usurped the Spaniard’s world No.1 spot after his double hard-court triumph in the US at Indian Wells and Miami and his victory at the Monte Carlo Masters clay-court event.