Carlos Alcaraz attacks overloaded tennis calendar as Spaniard Competes for his nation at Laver Cup

Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz has hit out at the tennis authorities in relation to the ever-growing fixture calendar that he and his fellow players have to negotiate.

The 21-year-old has been critical of the way in which he and his fellow players are being pushed to the brink with an overloaded schedule that will no doubt lead to an increase in injuries suffered by the top stars who progress most frequently to the latter stages of tournaments and as such, further extend themselves physically.

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Alcaraz, who is currently No 2 in the tennis rankings, has won two Grand Slam events in 2024, picking up the French Open and Wimbledon crowns and earning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, before suffering a surprise defeat in the second round of the US Open in August, going down to lowly ranked Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets.

The young talent, who is considered the best player of his generation, also took part in the Laver Cup and after defeating Ben Shelton, he made it clear that he’s not happy with the way the current schedule is drawn up, commenting,

“Probably they are going to kill us in some way,”

“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).” Alcaraz concluded.

While many outside the game may well find it hard to sympathise with players who earn millions from playing the sport, there is a marked upshift in the number of tournaments on the calendar, and Alcaraz is by no means the only player to make his concerns known.

Alcaraz broke onto the ATP scene in 2020 at the age of just 16, and by 17, he was playing in a Grand Slam for the first time. In 2022, he picked up his first Grand Slam title, beating Casper Ruud to win the US Open before winning at Wimbledon in 2023 by ousting Novak Djokovic in the final.

He picked up a second Wimbledon title in 2024 (beating Djokovic again) and a first-ever French Open earlier in the year. He rose to No 1 in the world in September 2022 and is currently second.

In 2024, Alcaraz has played 61 singles matches, winning 50 of those, and the fear of burnout is a very real one for the talented Spaniard, who has already amassed over $36 million in prize money on the tour.