World No. 1 Jannik Sinner announced this week that he would miss the remainder of the 2026 season because of a knee injury that's sidelined him since after Wimbledon. Sinner noted he wanted to keep his long-term career in mind when deciding to sit out the rest of the season. He doesn't want his career to be cut prematurely if he doesn't take care of himself.
The Italian's friend and rival Carlos Alcaraz also missed a good chunk of play time this year as he dealt with a wrist injury. The best stars in the world aren't immune to suffering severe injuries that need time to heal, but the problem is, tennis players don't have much lenience in their schedules. They play pretty much all year round as December is really the only month off.
Alcaraz spoke after winning the Japan Open this week, and called out the ATP schedule and how detrimental it can be to a player's health. "One of the reasons we had to see the players who are getting injured, they [ATP officials] are pushing us too much out of the line sometimes to play a lot of tournaments, to play a lot of matches," Alcaraz said. "I think it's getting in the wrong direction." The Spaniard said that Sinner's situation is just one of many.
He hopes Sinner's time off is a wake-up call for the officials. "I just wish Jannik the best for these months, just to be in good shape for the next season," Alcaraz continued. "Hopefully see him soon, but they have to see a little bit what's going on on the tour along with the players." This isn't the first time even this year that Alcaraz has called out the ATP schedule.
Back in September, right when he returned from his nearly five-month absence, the 23-year-old admitted he would like to take longer breaks in the future, ranging from one-to-two months. "You can decide your calendar, but there are some Masters 1000s, some Grand Slams, and we’ve been out playing 40 weeks if we [have] to play every mandatory tournament that the ATP requires us to play.” When one of the best players in the world right now speaks up on a topic that impacts players' health, hopefully the ATP will listen. Although, tennis is notorious for not making a lot of changes, especially not quickly.
We'll see if the tour listens to Alcaraz in the ensuing years.
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