Carlos Alcaraz gets some candid advice from former top 20 player after injury setback
Leading players have consistently complained about the draining nature of the schedule on the WTA and ATP Tours, but former top 20 star Benoit Paire has suggested the game’s leading names are creating their own problems by playing too much tennis.
Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Alexander Zverev are among the big names who have spoken out against the relentless demands of the sport, with travelling and adapting to new surfaces and balls thrown into the mix.
Alcaraz is the latest player to be downed by an injury after he suffered a wrist problem after opting to play back-to-back weeks in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
The injury has forced him to pull out of next week’s Madrid Open and has cast a doubt over his hopes of defending his French Open title at Roland Garros next month.
Yet Paire has suggested that players of Alcaraz’s earning potential are in a position to do more to avoid injury problems, as he questioned the decision to squeeze lucrative exhibition events into their schedule.
“Winning money is important,” declares Paire, in an exclusive interview with Tennis365 and the Roland Garros e-series. “When I finish my career, I need to have money, so for me, the calendar in tennis is good.
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“For me, when you hear players saying the calendar is too long, it’s because they play a lot of exhibitions. If they want to stop, they can stop and not play any exhibitions. That’s what I think.
“They play exhibitions because they want to win more money. It’s not because the calendar is too long. That’s why I am sad when they cut some of the ATP 250 tournaments because it is important for the young players to play.”
Former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has also questioned Alcaraz’s decision to cash in on his fame by playing in lucrative exhibition matches.
The Spaniard played his rival Jannik Sinner in a match in China in January and he also took part in exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia and America at the back end of last season.
That inspired Rusedski to question his scheduling choice, as he urged him to take more time away from the court.
“I think with Alcaraz, he’s played a little bit too much tennis,” said Rusedski on his podcast. “You look at the end of the season, he didn’t really have an off-season.
“He played a lot of exhibitions in America, he went to the one in Korea before the Australian Open, then he played in Doha as well.
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“So he’s played all the way from the end of the year, finishing number one, to continuing on the merry-go-round.
“And when you play too much tennis, I hate to say it, but you get a little stale, you get a little bit bored, it’s difficult being week in, week out on the road.”
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