Carlos Alcaraz Urges ATP to ‘Remove Tournaments’ for More ‘Vacation Time’ Amid Hectic Schedule Complaints

Carlos Alcaraz will be starting his campaign in North America at the Cincinnati Masters, where he was the runner-up in 2023.

Carlos Alcaraz Urges ATP to ‘Remove Tournaments’ for More ‘Vacation Time’ Amid Hectic Schedule Complaints

Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/We Are Tennis)

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Carlos Alcaraz was last seen in action in the final of Wimbledon, where he failed to defend his title due to his four-set defeat to Jannik Sinner. He was next scheduled to play the Canadian Open but decided to skip it to spend more time resting and recovering.

Like Alcaraz, many other top players have been continuously playing tennis since the clay swing. The gap between the clay and the grass swing is not much, so the three off days that Alcaraz got, he enjoyed that time vacationing in Ibiza.

On the clay swing, Alcaraz skipped only one big tournament- the Madrid Open because of injury. He reached four finals and lifted titles: in Monte Carlo, Rome, and Paris. After his Ibiza trip, he continued his winning ways by lifting his career’s fourth grass-court trophy at the Queen’s Club Championships.

He recently sat for an interview with the Financial Times, where he revealed how he and other players have been trying hard to remove some tournaments from the schedule so that players get more time off.

We’re trying to change the schedule a bit, seeing if they can remove more tournaments so we can have more rest time, more vacation time. It’s not easy, but we’re trying.

Although players, former and current, are only calling for the shortening of the 11-month calendar, this year, the ATP extended the Canadian Open to a 12-day event. The Cincinnati Masters will also be a 12-day event from this season onward.

Previously, five of the Masters 1000 were held for 12 days. The Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Masters’ expansion have now increased the number to seven. Players are not at all a fan of this rule; and some are even convinced that the tennis governing bodies care more for money and not about the players’ well-being.

Carlos Alcaraz shares how he celebrates his Grand Slam wins

Athletes are quite strict with themselves. They keep indulgence, especially when it involves food, at bay during Grand Slam events.

Carlos Alcaraz (via X/Wimbledon)
Carlos Alcaraz (via X/Wimbledon)

Jannik Sinner treats himself with a hamburger after a big tournament win. And how much Novak Djokovic takes care of his body is very well known in the tennis world. But Carlos Alcaraz is not very extreme with his food choices and even enjoys stuff considered ‘guilty pleasures’ during tournaments.

I’ll eat a hamburger before, during, or after a tournament. And I always allow myself some dessert, some chocolate – that’s no problem for me. How do I celebrate? Maybe when I go home. My mother’s food is always the best. And I drink champagne and Coca-Cola, which I don’t do during tournaments…without overdoing it, of course.

Carlos Alcaraz told the Financial Times

Alcaraz will be returning to tennis at the Cincinnati Masters, which is scheduled to start on August 7. The Spaniard was the runner-up in 2023, losing the match to Djokovic. Last year, however, he suffered an opening-round exit.

After Cincinnati, the tennis world will shift its focus onto the last Major of the season- the US Open. Alcaraz lifted his career’s first Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open, but since then, he has made the semifinals just once- in 2023. Last year, his campaign was ended by Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets in the second round.

This season, apart from the aforementioned title, Alcaraz also lifted the Rotterdam Open by beating Alex de Minaur. So far in his career, the five-time Grand Slam champion has emerged victorious seven times in Masters 1000 events. But in the events of this category on the hard-court swing following the clay events, Alcaraz has made the quarterfinals of the four tournaments, reaching a final only in Cincinnati.

Also read: Carlos Alcaraz Gives Interesting Take on the ‘Ugly’ Side of Social Media in the Modern Age