The North American swing, leading up to the US Open, is seen as a particularly grueling one. The number of tournaments crammed into a short period, the frequent travels, and the requirement to play on different surfaces with minimal rest have pushed players to voice concerns. We saw plenty of them taking mid-match retirement and withdrawing from their matches at the Cincinnati Open this year. Highlighting all these issues, tennis star Carlos Alcaraz recently opened up on this topic in an interview with the Financial Times.

After Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz withdrew his name from the Canadian Open. He said, “After many consecutive weeks of competition without rest, I will not be able to play in Toronto this year. I have small muscle issues, and I need to recover physically and mentally for what comes next.” Following that short break, Alcaraz came back to action at the Cincinnati Open, but amid all this, he urged ATP to make a big change in tennis.

In his interview with Financial Times, the Spaniard said, “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.” Not only Alcaraz, but other players like Iga Swiatek have been seen time and again raising their voices on the same issue. Swiatek claims the scheduling is “super intense,” and according to her, there is no point for the players to play over 20 tournaments in a year.

Nonetheless, both Alcaraz and Swiatek have reached the final of the Cincinnati Open. So now, the biggest concern for them? There is a few hours gap between their final match and their first match at the star-studded US Open mixed doubles event. The scheduling didn’t go unnoticed by Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Rennae Stubbs.

“A Monday final is just ABSOLUTELY BONKERS! @atptour @WTA I’m sure the @usopen isnt happy about it either. Detracting from fan week & possibly the mixed doubles tournament they’ve put a lot of money into & that fans have paid to see with those names. Tennis really needs a commish!” she voiced on X. 

Carlos Alcaraz will be taking on Jannik Sinner in the Cincinnati Open final, while Iga Swiatek will face Jasmine Paolini in the women’s final. In the star-studded mixed doubles event at the US Open, Alcaraz has teamed up with Emma Raducanu, and they will play against Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper in their first match. Iga Swiatek will be seen in action alongside Casper Ruud, and they will be facing the all-American duo of Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe.

While a busy schedule with more matches and tournaments can lead to higher fan engagement and viewership, playing multiple tournaments in a short span can lead to physical and mental fatigue, increasing the risk of injuries and impacting performance. Players may experience burnout or even have shorter careers due to the relentless nature of the schedule. We’ve seen what Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek had to say on this, but what do other superstars think about this issue?

ATP star joins Carlos Alcaraz to address a similar concern in the racket sport

Just like Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz has also been quite vocal on this topic. Last month, while sharing his thoughts on the tennis schedule, the American said that it’s only getting worse as he finds it “insane” that some players competed at the Hopman Cup straightaway after Wimbledon and then also came to Washington to take part in the North American hard-court swing.

This year, we have seen plenty of new things in the North American hard-court swing. For example, under the scheduling expansion plan of most ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, the 2025 Canadian Open was held for over 12 days. Talking about this controversial move, Fritz said, “To be honest, I am complaining about the length of the two-week tournaments, but at the same time, I don’t dislike playing a match and having a day off and playing a match.” He claimed that this was pretty much a “weird” situation to be in.

Just before the 2025 Citi Open, Fritz stated, “It’s a tough time of year because there’s no week where it makes sense to take a break. Don’t get me wrong — I really like Washington and I like playing the tournament — but with how tight my grass-court schedule was, I probably should have skipped it.”

Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz’s concerns surrounding the schedule got validated by several tennis bigwigs. But the most astonishing thing amid all these concerns has been their performance in the last few tournaments. For example, after Wimbledon, Fritz reached the QF at the Citi Open before making it to the SF at the Canadian Open. Even in Cincinnati, he made a strong start, but his journey came to an end in the R16 at the hands of Terence Atmane.

On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz now has a good chance of taking his revenge on Jannik Sinner in the Cincinnati Open final. This will be their 14th meeting on the Tour. Although the Spaniard has an 8-5 lead over the world number one, Sinner defeated him in the previous encounter (Wimbledon final) by 4-6,6-4,6-4,6-4.

If Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner this time, he’ll manage to secure a lead in the PIF ATP Live Rankings once the season’s final major tournament begins. Talking about this upcoming clash, Alcaraz said, “I’m excited about it. It’s gonna be great…I know that Jannik is, without a doubt, the best player in the world on hard courts and probably on every surface right now, so it’s going to be a really great match. I have to be ready for that, you know, seeing what I did wrong, you know, in the last match, and I’m going to try to make it better on Monday.” Can he beat the Italian superstar and enter the US Open with a higher confidence level?