Carlos Alcaraz, Americans mock forfeit at Roland Garros

The announced absence at Roland Garros of Carlos Alcaraz, after the forfeits in Madrid and Rome, is news capable of crossing the boundaries of sport so much so that it ended up in the crosshairs of one of the world’s leading satirical portals, the US-based ‘The Onion’. The sympathetic authors benevolently joked about the Murcian’s long stop specifying that the cause is … the hairdo of the current world No. 2.

“Carlos Alcaraz forfeits Roland Garros due to a potentially ‘lethal’ haircut for his career” is the title of the article that triggered the amused reactions of thousands of tennis fans: Alcaraz was thus pilloried for his hairstyles deemed “improbable,” such as the extreme cut shown at the US Open in 2025, the platinum blond flaunted at the end of last season or the “rebellious” hair of the last few months.

The authors of The Onion did not fail, among other things, to “quote” Jannik Sinner (again using entirely imagination) within their article, claiming that the world number 1 “wished Alcaraz a quick regrowth.” Already in the hour after it was published on Instagram, the post garnered dozens of comments from fans, all of whom were amused by the good-natured mockery of one of the two absolute stars of the current generation.

Jokes aside, the tennis world will really have to wait until the grass season to see Carlos Alcaraz back on the court. An absence that even Simone Vagnozzi, Jannik Sinner’s coach, sees as a potential disadvantage for Jannik himself. “Without the main rival it’s not easier, on the contrary: there’s a little bit more pressure,” he told Sky Sports on the sidelines of Sinner’s nail-biting final against Zverev in Madrid, a fixture where, at least from the point of view of the spectacle that Sinner and Alcaraz have offered in recent times, the Murcian’s absence was felt in no small part.