No rest for tennis Olympians as US Open beckons but injuries still trouble Jabeur

Fourth and final Grand Slam of the season begins in two weeks as Alcaraz returns in Cincinnati following his silver medal in Paris

Carlos Alcaraz practices at the at the Lindner Family Tennis Center ahead of the Cincinnati Open. Getty Images

As thousands of athletes gathered inside Stade de France on Sunday to celebrate the conclusion of the Paris Games, the world's leading tennis players had already moved on from the Olympic festivities to focus on their day jobs.

Tennis, held at the historic Roland Garros, was one of Paris 2024's earlier events, with matches starting on July 26 and the last of the finals taking place on August 4 – a full week before the end of the Games.

Yet, while most Olympians are taking some deserved rest and will use the opportunity to celebrate their achievements, the unrelenting professional tennis tours have given their athletes no such respite.

Even when Olympic tennis was in full swing, the WTA Tour hosted a tournament in Washington DC involving several leading players who skipped the Games out of choice or were not selected by their national teams, including world No 3 Aryna Sabalenka and former US Open champions Emma Raducanu and Sloane Stephens.

For most, particularly those who competed in Paris, it was straight into the deep end on their return last week as the ATP and WTA tours hosted Masters 1000 tournaments – outside the Grand Slams, the biggest events in terms of ranking points and prize money – in Montreal and Toronto respectively.

And there's more big-time tennis this week, too, as both the men and women compete at the Cincinnati Masters. One week later, on August 26, the US Open starts. The tennis calendar really is living up to its reputation as the most gruelling circuit in elite sport.

In Montreal last week, most of the ATP's top players were in action but there were two notable exceptions. Following their latest titanic tussle in the Olympic final, gold medal winner Novak Djokovic and runner-up Carlos Alcaraz opted to not travel to Canada.

Djokovic, 37, will be absent again this week as the Serbian world No 2, whose triumph in Paris completed the career golden Grand Slam, has been nursing a knee injury having undergone surgery on a meniscus tear after the French Open in June.

It's hardly ideal preparation for his US Open title defence, but even more so this year with the transition from the Olympic clay courts to the North American hard courts, not to mention the travel and time difference. If there is one player with the experience and skill to quickly adapt, though, it's 24-time major champion Djokovic.

Alcaraz, 21, will return to the ATP Tour this week and will aim to go one step further than last year's final, which he lost to Djokovic 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 in another of their thrilling, nail-biting battles.

The Spanish world No 2 is enjoying another spectacular season, winning the French Open and retaining his Wimbledon title – in a rare one-sided match against Djokovic – to take his Grand Slam tally to four.

Cincinnati is one of the few occasions when the ATP and WTA tours compete at the same tournament at the same time, but there will be no Ons Jabeur in Ohio this year as her worrying injury record extends into another week.

Jabeur, 29, has been troubled by a recurring knee injury for much of the season, which forced her into the decision to miss the Olympics due to the stress the clay courts place on her body.

However, now it's a shoulder problem hampering the Tunisian's fitness, leading to withdrawals in Washington and now Cincinnati, either side of a heavy first-round defeat to Naomi Osaka in Toronto.

“I regret to inform you that, due to an aggravated shoulder injury, I will be unable to participate at the Cincinnati Open this year," Jabeur posted on social media. “Despite my best efforts to recover in time, playing in Toronto did not help, my current condition does not allow me to compete at the level required.”

The former world No 2 will now be focused on sufficiently recovering in time for the US Open.