Alcaraz To Swiatek Complaints Tennis Intensive Schedule

JAKARTA The tight schedule of tennis tournaments in one calendar year has begun to receive criticism from top players, including Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek.

Alcaraz, sixth place winner of the Grand Slam title and world number one today, is the latest name to complain about the tight schedule of competitions after he decided to withdraw from the Shanghai Masters for physical reasons.

"The schedule is very tight. They have to do something about the schedule," Alcaraz was quoted as saying by France 24.

The former world number one Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff also highlighted the length of the competition in one season. The criticism of the two came after many cases of players being forced to withdraw due to injury.

At the China Open 2025 which had just finished, it was recorded that five players were unable to finish the match. The next day Daniil Medvedev appeared limp before giving up 0-4 in the determination set against United States teenager Learner Tien.

Tien's opponent in the quarter-finals, Lorenzo Musetti, also ended the match early due to injury. Then, the winner of the US Open 2025, Aryna Sabalenka, was even absent from the tournament in Beijing due to a minor injury.

Swiatek said that this situation made him unable to miss the mandatory tournament in order to maintain his physical condition.

"There are many injuries. I think it's because the season is too long and too intense," he said.

The WTA has since last year required elite players to appear in four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 tournaments including Beijing, and six level 500 tournaments. ATP also applies similar rules.

In a statement, the WTA said the new format would provide certainty as well as additional compensation for players of up to 400 million US dollars or around Rp. 6.66 trillion in the next 10 years.

However, many tennis stars think the policy actually makes the burden even more heavy. Gauff, the defending champion of the China Open as well as ranked third in the world, thinks the current schedule is impossible to live with.

"I want to see in my life during this tour so that solutions are made to shorten the season," he said.

However, Zheng Qinwen, who is the gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, who was forced to withdraw in Beijing because he had not yet recovered from elbow surgery, gave a different view.

"I don't think this calendar is too heavy for professional players. Because it's the strongest players who survive, that's the rule in my head," Zheng said.