Carlos Alcaraz pleads with chiefs after Aryna Sabalenka complaint | Tennis | Sport

Carlos Alcaraz has joined the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Jack Draper and Iga Swiatek in calling for a drastic overhaul of the tennis calendar. Both the ATP and WTA have come in for criticism lately, with a number of high-profile injuries being blamed on the high volume of matches and tournaments taking place.

Mounting pressure is being placed on both sets of tour chiefs, with the respective world No. 1s both of the opinion that too much tennis is being played. Having jetted to France for the Paris Masters, where Alcaraz will play either Cameron Norrie or Sebastian Baez in his first match, the Spanish star demanded fewer tournaments take place.

“Well, I don’t have an exact amount of matches that we should play,” Alcaraz said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I mean, I can’t answer with an exact number. But obviously they have to do something with the calendar.

“The amount of tournaments that we have to play I think is too high. We don’t have such good period of time that we can practice, we can rest.

“Even during the season, I think it’s week after week after week and we don’t have the chance to have a week just to prepare pretty well the tournaments or what we have ahead in the season.

“But, you know, I will think about the amount of matches that we should play, and I’m gonna comment later.”

His comments echo those made previously by Draper, Taylor Fritz and Swiatek, who think that injuries are being caused by overworking players.

Sabalenka described the WTA schedule as “crazy” and asked for the governing bodies to step in to protect players’ health at the top level of tennis.

“The scheduling is crazy, it’s really tough to handle,” Sabalenka said last week. “We definitely have to do something about that because if you play at a high level and if you go far in the tournaments, at some point your body is gonna give up.

“It’s just too much pressure, physical pressure and mental pressure as well.

“At some point, it’s gonna hurt, like, it’s gonna get to you. And last year I suffered from a shoulder injury and I had to pull out from Wimbledon, which has never happened to me before, and I feel like it’s all because of the tight scheduling and not enough time to recover my body.”