Carlos Alcaraz is once again banging the drum that the tennis calendar is too demanding and long.
Ahead of competing at the Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz stated that the sport’s busy schedule is going in the “wrong direction” and players are being “pushed” to play in too many tournaments.
He said, via Sky Sports, “One of the reasons we had to see the players who are getting injured, they [ATP officials] are pushing us too much out of the line sometimes to play a lot of tournaments, to play a lot of matches.
“It’s getting in the wrong direction. I just wish Jannik [Sinner] the best for these months, just to be in good shape for the next season. Hopefully see him soon, but they have to see a little bit what’s going on on the tour along with the players.”
The seven-time major winner certainly has a point. What other sport sees its stars end their season in November, before restarting in late December/early January? Tennis players get a preciously short off-season in a game that is getting increasingly physical.
More Tennis News
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
In May 2025, Casper Ruud criticised the ATP‘s ranking system, likening it to a “rat race”.
The Norwegian, who was suffering with a knee injury at the time, said, “It’s kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings as well. You feel you’re obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events.”
Indeed, eight of the nine Masters 1000 events are mandatory, along with four 500 tournaments. Plus, these competitions are now played over the best part of a fortnight, rather than a week – which speaks to Alcaraz’s initial point.
However, it could be argued that Alcaraz is insinuating that Jannik Sinner‘s injury – which has ruled him out until 2027 – is down to the relentless tennis schedule. But looking at his 2026 season, that does not seem to be the case.
This year, Sinner did not play a lead-up event to the Australian Open. Just over two weeks after his semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic there, he was defeated by Jakub Mensik in the quarter-finals in Doha in mid-February.
Just over two weeks later, he began his title-winning campaign at Indian Wells and then completed the Sunshine Double in Miami in what was a busy March.
Admittedly, this kicked off an exhausting, but historic, stretch of Masters 1000 success, with Sinner winning all three of the big lead-up events on clay before the French Open.
The Italian wilted in the French capital in late May before not playing again until the end of June at Wimbledon, where he defended his title. It is not yet fully known when he picked up the knee injury that would end his season but nine tournaments between January and July is not a huge amount.
US Open champion Alexander Zverev is all set for his 20th tournament of the year and has currently played 73 times, winning 58 of them. If the German picked up an injury, the point about a gruelling schedule would carry more weight.
But Alcaraz wasn’t alluding to Zverev. The Spaniard himself had four months out due to a wrist injury earlier this year. There is a chance that the five tournaments he played in 2026, in addition to the 16 he competed in last year, led to his injury surfacing in April.
Tennis’ calendar does need reforming. Players need a longer off season and they shouldn’t need to play in so many mandatory tournaments. On the flip side, tournament organisers have to protect their own interests as well. There generally isn’t enough joined up thinking between figureheads in the sport.
In 2025, Sinner played 64 times over the course of 12 tournaments. He reached the final in 10 of those but many others played a lot more than the world No 1.
This year, Sinner posted a record of 44-3 before his knee injury. So while one part of Alcaraz’s argument makes sense, the part about Sinner doesn’t hold much water.
READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner sign up for 2027 event just before the Australian Open
