Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> and France’s Arthur Fils<\/a> missed earlier Grand Slams in 2026 due to injury but are playing in New York, while women’s number two seed Elena Rybakina<\/a> is nursing a heel injury as she prepares for her first round. Canada’s Victoria Mboko<\/a> missed both Wimbledon and the US Open due to injury, along with Britain’s Jack Draper<\/a>.<\/p>\n Compared with earlier generations, today’s best tennis players have access to more sophisticated practices in fitness and nutrition, greater candour about mental health and improved technology in detecting and treating injuries.<\/p>\n “We’re losing the battle overall despite the advances in sports medicine,” said Neeru Jayanthi, who leads the tennis medicine program at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.<\/p>\n The injury problem points to the downside of the greater physicality needed to compete at the highest levels of a sport where play is becoming faster and more powerful all the time, enabled by racquet innovations that allow for wicked topspin shots that didn’t exist in earlier tennis eras.<\/p>\n “The game has gotten more intense because the players have gotten bigger, faster, and stronger,” said Mackie Shilstone, a longtime fitness expert who worked with Serena Williams<\/a> for 14 years.<\/p>\n The faster pace places greater strain on the body when it changes direction, while more severe weather due to climate change also takes a toll, Shilstone said.<\/p>\n Adding to that, the big business of tennis is played over 11 months of the year, highlighted by the four Grand Slams and a series of mandatory 1,000-level tournaments.<\/p>\n “You can’t go 11 months straight and travel all over the world,” Shilstone said. “There has to be planned recovery built in.”<\/p>\n Extreme topspin is a factor in the rising incidence of wrist injuries seen at all levels of tennis, said New York hand and wrist surgeon Remy Rabinovich at Northwell Health, who perceives a silver lining in that players are opting to rest rather than playing through pain.<\/p>\n “There is a big element of preventative medicine and more strategic ways of playing in the hopes of having a longer career,” Rabinovich told AFP.<\/p>\n At a media availability Friday, Alcaraz said he decided to rest until he was ready to come back to “hopefully have a really long career,” he said.<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic<\/a> has had injuries in recent years, and was bundled out of the US Open on opening night after struggling physically.<\/a><\/p>\n Injuries in tennis are not new. Among the group of recently retired greats, Rafael Nadal<\/a> was out of commission for significant stretches in his peak years due to injury, while hip problems largely derailed Andy Murray<\/a>‘s career after he won Wimbledon and the Olympics in 2016.<\/p>\n![\"Jannik](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3f5839c6-b725-4808-8185-42fda5b21622.jpg\" "\\"Jannik")
Jannik Sinner reacts during his final match against Germany’s Alexander ZverevReuters \/Toby Melville<\/p>\n