Carlos Alcaraz: Players can criticise tour schedule and have fun at exhibitions

Carlos Alcaraz has argued players are misunderstood when it comes to criticism over exhibition tournaments.

Alcaraz is the top seed at this week’s lucrative Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, which has also tempted Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas to head to the Middle East.

Alcaraz was among those voicing criticism of the demanding tour schedule in Asia, where a number of players struggled physically, with the world number one saying he would consider skipping mandatory events to prioritise his health.

The Spaniard understands, therefore, why there are raised eyebrows over the Six Kings Slam, but he believes critics are wide of the mark.

Alcaraz told the PA news agency: “I think it’s a discussion that a lot of players and a lot of people are talking about with the calendar, how tight it is with a lot of tournaments and the tournaments of two weeks, and then making some, I’m going to say, excuses with exhibitions, how players are complaining about the calendar and then playing some exhibitions.

“All I can say is it’s a really different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, having 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically.

“That’s why, because we’re just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and I think that’s great, and I think that’s why we choose sometimes the exhibitions.

“Obviously I understand (the criticism), but sometimes the people don’t understand us, our opinions.

“When I see a lot of people complaining about how we are defending the exhibitions, I don’t understand them because, as I said, it’s not really demanding mentally (compared to) when we’re having such long events like two weeks or two-and-a-half weeks. It’s really tough.”

Alcaraz won his eighth title of a sensational season in Tokyo last month despite an ankle injury sustained in his opening match that prompted him to pull out of the Shanghai Masters.

The 22-year-old chose to head to Saudi Arabia despite admitting the injury is not fully healed, saying: “Everything’s OK. I’ve been recovering the ankle as much and as good as I can.

“I don’t feel, I would say, 100 per cent, the doubts are there thinking about it a little bit when I’m moving on court, but I think it improved a lot and I’m going to compete and perform well here in the Six Kings Slam.”

Alcaraz has a bye through to the semi-finals at the event, which is part of Riyadh Season and will be broadcast on Netflix, where he will face either Fritz or Zverev on Thursday.

He is aiming to go one better than the inaugural Six Kings Slam last year, where Sinner won their final clash and walked away with six million US dollars (approximately £4.5million), the biggest prize in tennis.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, is back on familiar sporting territory, having joined forces with Ryder Cup stars Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry at the Open de Espana Pro-Am last week.

Alcaraz is a very keen golfer, with the Spaniard hitting the fairways on his days off at the US Open.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “I went to Madrid for a day to play with the professionals, to play with Jon and with Lowry. I try to make the most of my time while I’m taking some days off so it was great playing some golf with them.

“Learning from them really closely, seeing myself that I have a lot of things that I have to improve in golf. Seeing them hitting the ball, playing such an amazing level, I was impressed. Feeling an amateur, sometimes it’s great.”