Alcaraz Speaks Out on an Overloaded Calendar
Carlos Alcaraz made headlines at the US Open this week, delivering a pointed message about the state of the professional tennis schedule. The Spanish superstar, returning to action after more than four months away following a wrist injury sustained in April, said the current calendar is simply too demanding for players to survive without breaking down physically. He made it clear that going forward, he intends to skip tournaments, potentially taking breaks of one to two months at a time.
Alcaraz noted that mandatory commitments to Masters 1000 events and Grand Slams alone could require players to compete for roughly 40 weeks per year, a workload he described as impossible to sustain. He pointed to the number of prominent names missing from Flushing Meadows this year, including Jannik Sinner, Jack Draper, Holger Rune, and Joao Fonseca, as proof that the fixture list is already causing serious harm across the tour.
ATP Tour Reportedly Moving to Trim the Schedule
The timing of Alcaraz's comments may prove significant. According to Mexican tennis journalist Ivan Aguilar, the ATP Tour is reportedly planning to remove both the Mexican Open and the Los Cabos Open from its calendar ahead of the 2028 season. The Mexican Open, a long-running ATP 500 event held in late February or early March, could be sold to new ownership based in the Middle East. The Los Cabos Open, an ATP 250 tournament that began in 2016, is reportedly set to be downgraded to a Challenger-level competition.
These changes would leave Mexico without any ATP Tour events, a significant shift for a country with a passionate tennis following and two historically well-attended tournaments. Whether these moves directly address the broader player welfare concerns Alcaraz raised remains to be seen. TennisDraw users picking Alcaraz deep in the US Open draw will be watching closely to see how his reduced schedule shapes his form in the months ahead.
