Tennis world number one, Carlos Alcaraz, has criticized the demanding tennis calendar, citing the number of mandatory tournaments and extended formats as physically and mentally taxing.
The tennis season, which spans 11 months and includes ATP, WTA, and ITF’s four Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open, has been a bone of contention for many stars in the game.
However, in an interview with the PA news agency, Alcaraz defended his participation in exhibition matches, arguing they are less grueling than official tour events.
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“I think that it’s a discussion that a lot of players and a lot of people are talking about with the calendar, how tight it is with a lot of tournaments and the tournaments of two weeks, and then making some, I’m going to say, excuses with exhibitions, how players are complaining about the calendar and then playing some exhibitions.
“All I can say is that it’s a really different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, having 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically. That’s why, because we’re just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis and I think that’s great, and I think that’s why we choose sometimes the exhibitions.
“Obviously I understand [the criticism], but sometimes the people don’t understand us, our opinions. When I see a lot of people complaining about how we are defending the exhibitions, I don’t understand them because, as I said, it’s not really demanding mentally [compared to] when we’re having such long events – like two weeks or two-and-a-half weeks. It’s really tough.”
