Carlos Alcaraz has led the charge on player’s unhappiness on the hectic nature of the ATP Tour schedule in 2026.

The Spaniard knows all too well the difficulties of the ATP Tour schedule, having been forced to miss four and a half months after suffering a wrist injury at the Barcelona Open.

Since, Alcaraz has suggested he will play a limited schedule going forward and he lambasted the ATP following Jannik Sinner’s decision to end his season early.

“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,” said Alcaraz at the Shanghai Masters.

“It’s getting in the wrong direction. I just wish Jannik the best for these months, just to be in good shape for the next season,” he continued.

Naomi Broady said she has little sympathy for Alcaraz’s complaints and now Mark Philippoussis has issued a similar statement.

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Speaking to Clay Tenis, the Australian said: “You see Federer, Nadal, Djokovic say no because they have a bigger vision, and that was the Grand Slams. So at some stage you get there and say: I’m gonna say no to the six-figure guarantee because this is my goal.

“No one has a gun to your head getting you to play all these weeks. You can always say no. Tennis, we all know there’s no offseason, and it’s a very difficult thing to balance the calendar. You gotta see what’s best for you.

“But at the same time, there’s a lot of money involved. The weeks where they can have off, that’s normally where they’re getting a lot of money for exhibitions.

“So they want the weeks off, yet they’re getting a lot of money to play those tournaments, so they’re not saying no. It’s up to them.”

Alcaraz has played plenty of exhibition events over the last 12 months. The star played an exhibition in Miami against Joao Fonseca last October and followed it up with an exhibition tie vs Jannik Sinner in South Korea in January.

The Spaniard has also appeared at the Laver Cup and he is set for yet another appearance at the Six Kings Slam in December.

Until Alcaraz stops playing exhibition events, it is clear that the world No 3’s appeals for change on the ATP Tour with likely go unlistened to by the authorities.

Alcaraz will next be in action at the Vienna Open, which begins on October 26th.