No Alcaraz and Sinner at Davis Cup, one top-10 player, United States and Australia also absent
The 2025 Davis Cup Finals have been rocked by another massive blow with world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz confirming he won’t play due to injury, leaving the team event lacking star power in Bologna.
Alcaraz picked up a hamstring injury earlier during his ATP Finals campaign in Turin and he aggravated it during the showpiece match against Jannik Sinner on Sunday as he took a medical timeout for treatment, but he was still determined to play in the Davis Cup Finals this week.
However, an MRI scan has revealed that the problem is serious and there is a high risk of a hamstring tear should he not get enough rest with the team ultimately deciding not to risk it at the team event.
“I’m so sorry to announce that I won’t be able to play for Spain in the Davis Cup in Bologna,” the reigning French Open and US Open champion wrote on Instagram.
“I have [an] edema in my right hamstring and the medical recommendation is not to compete.
“I’ve always said that playing for Spain is the greatest thing there is, and I was really looking forward to helping us fight for the Davis Cup. I’m going home heartbroken.”
Alcaraz was set to spearhead Spain’s campaign at the Elite 8 event in Bologna, Italy, but the six-time Grand Slam winner’s withdrawal means the European nation won’t have a single player inside the top 30 in their squad.
Jaume Munar (No 36), Pablo Carreño Busta (No 89), Pedro Martinez (No 95) and Marcel Granollers (no singles ranking) will represent the Spaniards when they take on the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Who Else Is Missing?
But Spain are not the only side that have been hit hard as two-time defending champions Italy will be without Jannik Sinner as the world No 2 decided to make himself unavailable for selection.
Sinner, who won the ATP Finals for a second consecutive year without dropping a set after beating Alcaraz 7–6 (7–4), 7–5, decided not to play as he believes he needs more time to rest ahead of the 2026 season.
World No 8 Lorenzo Musetti also joined Sinner on the sidelines as he cited exhaustion and family reasons as his decision to withdraw from the Italy team, who will take on Austria in the last eight.
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With Alcaraz, Sinner and Musetti out, world No 3 Alexander Zverev will be the only top-10 player to compete at the Davis Cup Finals with the Czech Republic pair of Jiri Lehecka (No 17) and Jakub Mensik (No 19) the next highest ranked.
Italy’s Flavio Cobolli (No 22) and Arthur Rinderknech (No 29) are the other players inside the top 30 of the rankings.
What About The Big Teams?
But it’s not just star players who are missing as some of the biggest tennis playing nations won’t feature.
At the start of the 2025 Davis Cup qualifying round, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Germany, the United States and Serbia were the top six seeds, but only Germany will play at the Elite 8 event.
Canada and Serbia were elimited in the first round while the Netherlands, Australia and the United States crashed out in the second round.
The Netherlands were runners-up in 2024, Australia were second in 2023 and 2022 while Canada were champions in 2022.
Of course, it is not the organisers’ fault that those countries failed to win their qualifying matches, but it means Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Alex de Minaur will also be missing in Bologna.
