The Grand Slam tournament duels between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will resume at the earliest at the US Open in September after Alcaraz pulled out of Wimbledon to continue his recovery from an injury to his right wrist.
The 22-year-old Spaniard withdrew from the Barcelona Open on 15 April after hurting his hand during his first round victory over Otto Virtanen the previous day.
He said he would skip the Madrid Masters at the end of April to give himself a chance of recovering in time to defend his French Open men's singles crown.
But on 24 April, Alcaraz announced he would not play at the French Open which starts in Paris on 24 May.
His decision to miss Wimbledon robs the tennis circuit's most prestigious grass court tournament of a two-time champion and fans of a chance to savour a repeat of last year's final in which Sinner claimed the title for the first time following a four-set victory over Alcaraz.
"My recovery is going well and I'm feeling much better," said Alcaraz. "But unfortunately I'm still not ready to play, I am obliged to withdraw from both Queen's [tournament] and Wimbledon.
'Really special tournaments'
"These are two really special tournaments for me and I'll miss them a lot," added Alcaraz who claimed his first grass court trophy at Queens in 2023. "We'll keep working to come back as soon as possible."
In January, after his triumph at the Australian Open, Alcaraz became at 22 years and 272 days the youngest man to win the men's singles trophy at all four Grand Slam tournament venues in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
Sinner, should he brandish the Coupe des Mousquetaires at the end of the French Open on 7 June, will join Alcaraz as well as the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, André Agassi and Rod Laver.
"It's sad news for all of us," said Sinner after Alcaraz said he would not play on the clay courts at the French Open.
"Me being a competitor, you want to play against the best players in the world and he's definitely the best player on this surface.
"Being that young, like he is and like I am, we need to look at our bodies first before worse things happen," added the 24-year-old Italian.
Wimbledon starts on 29 June at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in south-west London.
The women's singles final takes place on 11 July and the men's title will be contested the next day.
