Carlos Alcaraz slams ‘impossible’ tennis schedule, to take 1 to 2-month breaks
Spaniard to play lesser tournaments, take longer breaks in between
World No 1 Jannik Sinner, Jack Draper, Holger Rune, Emma Raducanu and Victoria Mboko are five notable names among 24 players who pulled out of the ongoing US Open – 18 of them before the tournament draws were finalised and 6 right before their first-round matches.
Carlos Alcaraz, who did not play at the French Open or Wimbledon and only just returned from a four-month layoff caused by a wrist injury, said on Wednesday that he believes the 'impossible' schedule is raising the injury threat to players, forcing them to withdraw from major tournaments.
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Following his four-set win over Portugal's Jaime Faria in the US Open second round, the 23-year-old said that while he had not wanted to spend four months on the sidelines this season, he intended to make regular breaks a part of his schedule in future.
"Obviously I don't want to have this break because an injury," the world No 3 said. "But in the future I'm going to take some breaks, some long breaks. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it's impossible to play them all."
"I think they adding more important tournaments... you know, in a way they are making us play. You can say no.
"So it's impossible, and we are seeing a lot of players getting injured, a lot of players getting tired. If they don't do anything about it, we are going to see even more in the future.
"For me, taking this break because an injury, it wasn't that good, but you know, what I'm going to say is I'm going to take some breaks and missing some tournaments in the future, for sure."
The second seed is aiming to become the first player to defend the US Open title since Roger Federer triumphed five times in a row from 2004 to 2008. Alcaraz is a two-time champion in New York, having won his first major title there in 2022 before his 2025 triumph.
Earlier this year, the Spaniard became the youngest man in history to complete the Career Grand Slam at 22 after winning the Australian Open. His latest Flushing Meadows victory is his 26th main-draw win at the American Slam, the highest mark among the four majors.
Improving to 9-0 at the majors in 2026, Alcaraz next meets China's Wu Yibing. Alcaraz leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 1-0. Their only meeting was in Shanghai in 2024.
