What a season of tennis it has been! Fans have been served with some thrilling action over the past seven months, as non-stop action has kept them glued to the courts. While it’s been interesting for the fans to watch, it has been quite cumbersome for the players, who are left with hardly any breathing space. As a result, stars like Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek have called out the hectic tennis schedule, with some even criticizing the new rule of the tennis bodies pertaining to the mandatory tournaments. Amid this, Carlos Alcaraz had a contradictory claim to make.

Over the past few months, Alcaraz has had some strong opinions against the hectic tennis calendar. He once even claimed that the schedule would ‘kill’ the players. However, when asked during an interview with the Financial Times about the back-to-back tennis events in the US Open Swing, the Spaniard remained unbothered about the schedule.

He said, “I really enjoy playing tennis. It’s my passion, it’s what I chose, it’s what I love. But in the end, it’s like everything else. If you play every day and you don’t have a break for yourself, to disconnect, that excitement kind of fades. So I always try to find moments of fun – of wanting to live.”

The Spaniard has been playing non-stop tennis during the clay court and the grass court seasons. However, he decided to take a break after his Wimbledon Campaign and skipped the Citi Open and the ongoing National Bank Open. Moreover, Alcaraz has been quite open about his displeasure with the tennis schedule in previous instances. He once stated, “Right now, a lot of good players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of that [injury]. Sometimes, you don’t want to go to a tournament. I’m not going to lie – I have felt this way a few times already. Sometimes I don’t feel motivated at all. But as I’ve said many, many times, I play my best tennis when I smile and enjoy it on court. That’s the best option to keep motivating [myself].”

However, Alcaraz hasn’t been the only one who slammed the hectic tennis schedule. Even American star Taylor Fritz raised objections about compulsory tennis tournaments.

Taylor Fritz calls out ATP for mandatory participation

To get the top players to play in the ATP 500 events, the men’s body introduced a new rule, mandating the players’ participation in at least 4 ATP 500 tournaments in a calendar year. This didn’t go down well with Fritz, who had to play in the Citi Open after a tiresome Wimbledon campaign.

He made his displeasure felt by saying, “This is a tough part of the year because there’s not really any weeks that make sense to like take off. there’s not a, you know, it’s 1000s, and to be honest, last week and don’t get me wrong, I really like DC and I like playing the tournament, but with how busy my grass schedule was, I would have probably opted out of it.”

Fritz also stated, “But there’s a new rule: you have to play a certain amount of 500 events or you get a zero on your record. And because I was injured early this year, I missed two 500s. So, I actually had to play DC in order to give myself a chance to meet my like 500 quota for the year. So, I’m going to be honest. I don’t think that’s the best rule because I was injured early this year.”

Meanwhile, the ongoing National Bank Open is missing some key players like Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic owing to the hectic scheduling. These stars will begin their US Open Swing in Cincinnati, ahead of the US Open.