Carlos Alcaraz is already dealing with a frustrating injury layoff, but now the seven-time Grand Slam champion finds himself at the center of a controversy that has nothing to do with his tennis. Gianni Daniele, the chief doctor and chair of the medical and anti-doping commission of the Italian Tennis Federation, has made stunning, unsubstantiated claims about the nature of Alcaraz's ongoing absence from the tour.
Alcaraz has been sidelined since suffering a right wrist injury during his first-round victory at the Barcelona Open back in April. The diagnosis is tenosynovitis, an inflammation of the tendon sheath, and the situation has grown serious enough that he has already withdrawn from the Cincinnati Masters and faces doubts about appearing at the 2026 US Open.
Despite all of this, Daniele told Italian newspaper la Repubblica that the injury picture around Alcaraz has never been entirely clear, and then went further, suggesting the 23-year-old is battling what he described as a kind of mental weakness and a form of depression. He also lamented the situation for Jannik Sinner, framing it as a loss for world tennis without a rival of Alcaraz's quality to push the Italian No 1.
The comments ignited immediate and forceful criticism. Spanish tennis journalist Jose Moron called Daniele's remarks absolutely disgraceful on social media, describing it as abhorrent for an Italian federation official to speak so carelessly about another nation's top player. Moron pointedly noted that the Spanish Federation would never direct such language toward Sinner.
It is rare to see a federation medical official publicly speculate about a rival player's mental state without any clinical basis, and the backlash has been entirely warranted. TennisDraw users have been closely tracking Alcaraz's tournament availability, with his US Open participation still listed as uncertain in bracket projections.
