Carlos Alcaraz said the packed tennis calendar is impossible to navigate without risking injury and burnout, and he plans to take periodic breaks and skip tournaments going forward. The Spanish player, defending his US Open title after recovering from a wrist injury sustained in April, made the comments after advancing past Jaime Faria in the second round.
Alcaraz pointed to the growing number of absent top players as evidence that the schedule demands are unsustainable. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, British player Jack Draper, Holger Rune, Joao Fonseca and others are not competing at Flushing Meadows, he noted.
"It's impossible to play them all," Alcaraz said of the tournaments on the calendar. He added that if players attempt to participate in every mandatory ATP event, they would be competing for roughly 40 weeks annually. "I'm going to take some breaks and miss some tournaments in the future, for sure," he said.
British player Jamie Murray said on Sky Sports Tennis that younger players have observed how Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal extended their careers by being selective about which tournaments to enter. "If they want to play until they're 34, 35, 36, they will probably have to skip tournaments and that's something the Tour needs to consider," Murray said.
