Spotlighting the 'big-name' stars absent from the Madrid Open 2026

The fourth ATP 1000 tournament of the year: Madrid Open 2026 will be missing many notable stars of the current world tennis scene.

The fourth ATP 1000 tournament of the year: Mutua Madrid Open 2026 will take place from April 21 (April 20 for qualifying matches) to May 3 at the Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain. This is one of the major events of the annual tennis season, yet this year's edition will be without many top names, significantly affecting the quality and appeal of the tournament.

Accordingly, the Madrid Open champion of 2022 and 2023 - Carlos Alcaraz announced his withdrawal due to not fully recovering from injury. The reigning world No. 2 encountered issues during his victory over Otto Virtanen in his opening match at the Barcelona Open last week, immediately after which he requested to withdraw before his match against Tomas Machac.

With this difficult decision, Carlitos will miss the opportunity to return to the world No. 1 ranking, accepting to see Jannik Sinner reigning at the top of the rankings at least until the end of Wimbledon this year.

Similarly, Novak Djokovic is also not participating in this year's Madrid Open due to physical condition issues. The last time Djokovic played a match on Tour was in his loss to Jack Draper at Indian Wells on March 12, 2026, after which he continuously did not participate in the Miami Open and Monte Carlo Masters.

In the past, Nole has been crowned champion at Madrid three times in the years 2011 (defeating Rafael Nadal), 2016 (defeating Andy Murray), and 2019 (defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas). Last season, Djokovic stopped right at his opening match against Matteo Arnaldi.

Other prominent figures choosing not to participate in Madrid Open 2026 include Taylor Fritz, Holger Rune, Frances Tiafoe, and Sebastian Korda.

With Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic withdrawing, Jannik Sinner is the top contender for this year's Madrid Open title. The Italian star also faces the opportunity to break a series of records if he wins the title here: the first player in history to win all four initial Masters 1000 tournaments of the year; the first player to win five consecutive Masters 1000 titles (surpassing the previous milestone of Djokovic and Rafael Nadal) and the youngest player to reach the finals of nine ATP 1000 tournaments.

The reigning Madrid Open champion is Casper Ruud with his victory over Jack Draper in the 2025 final.