Carlos Alcaraz is trying everything he can to beat Jannik Sinner

Carlos Alcaraz has come up with yet another idea to try to beat Jannik Sinner. The Spaniard is still working to recover fully from his injury, and to speed up his recovery, he’s training in a whole new way. As you can see by visiting his Instagram account, he’s back on the court with a racket in hand. Except that the racket in question has no strings.

There’s a clear reason for his choice. This way, Alcaraz can start practicing the movements and motions he’ll need to hit the ball once he’s fully recovered and ready to return to top-level tennis. The “broken” racket, however, spares him the actual impact. This allows the Spanish champion to reduce the vibrations and stress on his wrist and forearm—which he absolutely must avoid at this stage.

It remains curious, however—and in some ways surreal—to see Alcaraz return shots with the ball passing right through his racket. Or, even more peculiar, to see him serve, only for the ball to fall lifelessly onto his shoulder, hip, or back moments later. But it’s part of his program, which at this point could see him return to the court for good at the Cincinnati Masters 1000, the final major test before the U.S. Open. And this time, with the strings back in place.

The Spaniard’s road to recovery has been long and arduous. Alcaraz was sidelined in mid-April, after defeating Finland’s Virtanen in Barcelona, when inflammation in the tendons of his right wrist forced him to take a break. Since then, he has missed the Italian Open in Rome, the French Open, and the entire grass-court season, including Wimbledon. This was a devastating absence that caused him to slip to third place in the ATP rankings, with Alexander Zverev having since overtaken him as the world No. 2.

Meanwhile, his great rival Jannik Sinner certainly didn’t stop to wait for him. The South Tyrolean won his second consecutive Wimbledon title, bringing his career Grand Slam total to five—two Australian Opens, one U.S. Open, and, indeed, two Wimbledon titles—and closing in even further on Alcaraz’s tally of seven Majors. This dominance is also reflected in the numbers: Sinner has won 21 of his last 22 matches against Top 10 opponents, losing only to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals. It’s no surprise, then, that the Spanish sports newspaper *As* dedicated an article to Alcaraz with a title that’s anything but encouraging: “Jannik Sinner, the Top 10’s Nightmare.”

The decision to skip the Montreal Masters 1000 as well—whose draw does not include the Spaniard’s name—confirms that Alcaraz’s team does not want to take any risks. The stated goal is to arrive in Cincinnati in peak condition, meticulously attending to every detail of his preparation. If his return goes as hoped, the Spaniard could face Sinner again on American hard courts, in what promises to be the first real test of their ongoing rivalry in the second half of the season, with the U.S. Open serving as the ultimate goal.