Carlos Alcaraz says he fully agrees with Iga Swiatek's take on the tennis calendar as the Spanish tennis star has also indicated that he may be forced to miss some tournaments in the future to preserve his physical and mental well-being.
On Monday, Swiatek was in action at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, where she progressed to the next round after Camila Osorio retired from their third-round match due to a leg injury. On that particular day, a total of five retirements happened across the Beijing men's and women's events.
After hitting the press room, Swiatek was asked if she had any thoughts on that - and she didn't hold back - ripping the calendar as too demanding and publicly warning the WTA that she may be willing to skip some mandatory tournaments in the future.
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Alcaraz, who started his Asian swing in Tokyo and picked up ankle injury in his opening match but still went on to win the title, was asked to address Swiatek's comments.
"The schedule is really tight. They have to do something with the schedule," the top-ranked ATP player said.
Alcaraz: I'll have to consider if I miss certain mandatory tournaments in the future
"To be honest, I have to consider in the future if I have to skip some mandatory tournaments just to maintain my physical condition and good shape. Obviously it's more than the physical condition. I think mentally it's really demanding as well, playing so many mandatory tournaments in a row or playing so many tournaments without having days to rest up mentally. I will consider skipping some mandatory tournaments to the benefit of myself mentally. I agree with Iga and I think a lot of players are gonna do that," Alcaraz said.
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So far this year, Alcaraz has taken part in 74 matches and he holds a 67-7 record, with eight titles won on the year. Considering that two more Masters tournaments are left to be played, as well as the ATP Finals, the 22-year-old Spaniard could easily finish this year by playing over 90 matches.
