Jannik Sinner is not a man for great displays of emotion, but not even the world No 1 could maintain his poker face this time. In the aftermath of an arduous opening win in Madrid on Friday, Sinner learned of the most significant news of the year – Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the French Open due to a right wrist injury – during his on-court interview.

Sinner’s face immediately fell and he was clearly still processing the information after delivering his answer. Later, in his press conference, the Italian lamented Alcaraz’s absence with sincerity: “Tennis needs Carlos,” he said. “Tennis is a much better sport when he’s around.”

This is primarily tough for Alcaraz himself, who started this season at the Australian Open by winning his seventh grand slam title and completing the career slam at 22 years old. Last year, Alcaraz’s presence at Roland Garros led to one of tennis’s greatest comebacks as he recovered from a triple championship-point deficit against Sinner to defend his title.

It is an enormous shame that he will not have the chance to return to Paris a year later. With Wimbledon starting only three weeks after the French Open, his grass-court season is also uncertain. Alcaraz must take every precaution when dealing with a wrist injury.

The sport will be in a tough position for as long as he is out, and not only because Alcaraz’s dynamic, complete game is one of the most exciting spectacles in sport. The history of tennis is told through its greatest rivalries and the start of this clay-court season positioned the Sinner-Alcaraz duopoly further away from the field than ever before. It is difficult to remember a period when the men’s tour was so reliant on just two players with nobody else to even challenge them.

The coming weeks will show what the sport looks like without one of those two pillars holding it up. Dominant spells from top players can often inspire improvement elsewhere, with the other players having no choice but to close the gap. However, four months into the season, the gap has only widened.

A brief run down of the rest of the top 10: Alexander Zverev is playing quite well but has lost his last eight matches and 12 sets against Sinner. Novak Djokovic will be 39 in Paris and he has played once since his brilliant run to the Australian Open final. Ben Shelton, who performed well to win his first clay-court title in Munich last week, is already out of Madrid. Félix Auger-Aliassime’s game is not perfectly suited to the clay. Taylor Fritz is navigating various injury problems and is even less effective on clay.

After his meek 6-3, 6-1 loss to Rafael Jodar in Madrid, Alex de Minaur is officially in a slump. Danill Medvedev’s first foray on clay courts this year ended with him losing, shockingly, 6-0, 6-0 to Matteo Berrettini in Monte Carlo. Lorenzo Musetti, who would have benefited immensely from Alcaraz’s absence during his own impressive clay-court season last year, is trying to find his form again after numerous injuries. Additionally, Britain’s Jack Draper is in the biggest injury crisis of his career.

This is far from an energised, thriving field of challengers. Still, the absence of one of the tour’s two pillars could even represent a career-defining opportunity for any quality player who finds his feet in the coming weeks, particularly if he falls into the bottom half of the French Open draw, as far away from Sinner as possible. This moment could also be the making of the numerous young talents on the tour, such as João Fonseca, Jodar, Jakub Mensik or Learner Tien.

One player who has bucked this trend by performing consistently well this year is Arthur Fils, author of the most heartening and notable story of the year. He was forced off the tour last year for the better part of eight months due to a stress fracture in his back, yet the Frenchman has returned playing the best tennis of his career.

His title in Barcelona last week was the latest success and he now sits at No 6 in the rankings despite missing the first month of the year. Fils has the weapons, athleticism and toughness to mark himself as a contender, but the coming weeks, as he heads into the pressure cooker of a home grand slam, will ask everything of him.

Above all, Alcaraz’s absence clearly represents a significant moment for Sinner, whose chances of completing his own career slam at the French Open have improved dramatically. Sinner has already shown he is capable of beating the French Open champion on clay but the road is so much clearer without the only player who can consistently beat him. Around the grounds in Madrid, shortly after Alcaraz’s withdrawal, some spectators could even be heard discussing whether Sinner may end up winning all nine Masters titles this year, an unheard-of achievement.

The absence of Alcaraz, who absorbed so much attention, will also present an immense challenge for Sinner. From now until whenever his rival returns, all eyes will be trained firmly on the No 1. Sinner will enter every match fully aware that he is expected to win every point, set, match and tournament without fail.

Considering his flawless results in recent weeks and dominant recent record against nearly every potential rival, this is completely reasonable. It will be up to Sinner to take the immense pressure in his stride and keep on moving forward.