Carlos Alcaraz will not have to face Tommy Paul on Tuesday, in what will be his debut match at Wimbledon. The 24-year-old American 52nd in the world reported this Saturday his absence due to injury and he will be replaced by an older tennis player with a worse ranking, repeated from the previous phase, the 28-year-old Japanese and 116th in the ranking, Yasukata Uchiyama.
Paul, friend of Nick Kyrgios, was going through one of the best moments of his career, after being a semi-finalist in Parma, on clay, but had not been able to resume the activity on grass after falling in the second round at Roland Garros to Daniil Medvedev. The 18-year-old Alcaraz's options now clearly increase against an opponent who He has only won 10 ATP matches in his 10 years as a professional.
On the other hand, Wimbledon also announced this Saturday that it was removing Frederik Nielsen from the doubles table, as he was considered “close contact” with a positive for COVID. The Dane was going to compete alongside Croatian Franko Skugor, but his place will now be filled by Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow. Nielsen will now have to spend ten days in solitary confinement.