Alcaraz and Rublev at odds as Russian picks UTS over ‘boring’ exhibitions | Tennis | Sport

Over the next two days, Carlos Alcaraz will play two lucrative exhibition matches in America alongside Joao Fonseca, Frances Tiafoe, Amanda Anisimova, and Jessica Pegula. Off-season exhibitions are an age-old debate – players are vocal about the packed calendar during the 11-month tennis tour, but many still sign up for unofficial matches an events during their brief off-season.

Alcaraz has already explained that there is, of course, a big difference between a “fun”, one-off hit-and-giggle, and playing week-in, week-out on the tour. But players competing in this weekend’s UTS Grand Final in London insist that the tournament – and their decision to compete – is very different to a regular, “boring” exhibition.

Unlike some other friendlies, the players at UTS don’t receive a lump sum of money regardless of result; they must go on court and compete for their winnings over three days. The stars, including Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur, can win up to £316k ($422k) in prize money by being crowned the champion – plus a bonus payment if they’ve competed in other UTS events this year.

Players are still guaranteed £51k if they lose all three group stage matches and are eliminated, but they’re incentivised by £41k per round-robin win – and more the further they go. And for Rublev and co., the UTS Grand Final isn’t a bit of fun; it’s a key part of their off-season, testing their endurance as they play matches made up of four eight-minute-long quarters against fellow top players.

The world No. 16 prefers the unusual format to “boring” regular exhibition matches – and gets “a bit disappointed” when the matches don’t go his way. “I’ve played some exhibitions [where] there is almost no crowd, you feel you are boring, you feel people are boring. It’s like, ‘Okay, when is this going to be over?’ and here, you don’t have this. That’s why it makes me come back to play,” Rublev explained.

“In my case, I don’t have those exhibitions where I play one match, and I get a crazy amount of money. Here, it’s a great preparation because after some rallies, my heart was super high, that I needed to take time as much as I could to recover, and the time was not enough, so I was serving and I had a bit of blue in my eyes because I didn’t recover enough, and it’s kind of a good preparation for endurance, plus it’s a great atmosphere.”

Frenchman Ugo Humbert says he’s not motivated by the prize money on offer. The Frenchman came into the draw as a last-minute substitute for British No. 1 Jack Draper, who is still recovering from an ongoing arm injury, and he’s using this weekend to test out the changes he made during pre-season.

“I don’t think about money. For sure, there is good money, and we play 100 per cent every match. But I’m just trying to focus on what I have to do. There are seven great players to play, what I want to do is to see my level right now,” Humbert said.

Ruud is also no stranger to an off-season friendly. The Norwegian star had no real time to rest at the end of 2022, joining Rafael Nadal on an exhibition tour around South America. He later admitted that it likely contributed to his disappointing start to 2023. Now, Ruud has found a happy medium.

The world No. 12 said: “I’m a player who likes to feel kind of match rhythm every now and then, and if I go too long, I feel like, when I begin the year, it will be kind of lost in memory how it is to play a match, or an official sort of match, so it was a good option to come here. I mean, the last two, three, four years, I was doing maybe a bit too much in the pre-season, off-season period, and I decided this year that I will only do one thing, and that’s UTS.

“It’s one weekend here in London, it’s a good test against some of the best players in the world who decided to come. Honestly, I think it prepares you well, both physically and mentally, for matches on the tour, which are much calmer, quieter. Every match here is also good practice. I mean, I don’t have [Francisco] Cerundolo or [David] Goffin or Ugo in Norway to practice with, so I can come here and play with them.”

If the players are taking the UTS Grand Final as a test, Rublev, Humbert, Ruud and De Minaur have passed – they’re through to Sunday’s semi-finals, and will battle it out for a spot in the final, which takes place on the same day.