Carlos Alcaraz has been criticised for complaining about the ATP calendar while also taking time to play in lucrative exhibition matches.

The subject of players’ schedules was first brought up by Iga Swiatek but after Alcaraz gave his support, the men’s No.1 has been criticised for double standards.

Carlos Alcataz criticised for calendar complaints

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When asked about Swiatek’s complaints, Alcaraz agreed with the assessment that too much is being asked of the players and said “they have to do something” when it comes to reorganizing the schedule.

“I agree with Iga,” Alcaraz said after winning the Japan Open. “I think that the schedule is really tight. They have to do something with the schedule. I think there are too many mandatory tournaments, too many in a row.

“They put in some rules that we have to play Masters 1000s, 500 tournaments, whatever it is. But there are too many rules that we as tennis players are not allowed to have a choice if we have to play or not.

“To be honest, I have to consider in the future if I have to skip some mandatory tournaments just to maintain my physical condition and good shape. Obviously it’s more than the physical condition.

“I think mentally it’s really demanding as well, playing so many mandatory tournaments in a row or playing so many tournaments without having days to rest up mentally. I will consider skipping some mandatory tournaments to the benefit of myself mentally. I agree with Iga and I think a lot of players are going to do that.”

But Alcaraz has now been criticized for saying one thing and doing another as he has voluntarily signed up for a number of exhibition matches, such as the Saudi Arabian-backed 6 Kings Slam starting this month.

Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs said it was hard to take Alcaraz’s complaints seriously when he is opting for more tennis.

“I do think it’s funny because as much as I love Carlos, it’s like I have recently seen that he is literally signed up for like every exhibition in December,” she said in an episode of her own podcast.

“Like, it is hard to take them seriously when they’re like, yes, the schedule needs to be smaller so that I can go play exhibitions in the Miami suburbs. Again, not so much critique, it’s just a little inconsistent. Yeah, that just makes me, that’s what makes me laugh.”

Another voice from the tennis world who found little sympathy for Swiatek and Alcaraz was Novak Djokovic who suggested there was not enough unity from players to ever create change.

“The monopoly that has been created in this sport has been very strong for the last, you know, three, four decades,” he said. “And there are people who just don’t want to change things in our sport, you know, for the better, in terms of when it comes to the players’ welfare. You know, because everybody works in their own interest. And that’s logical, I guess, business sense.

“In the end, as a player and someone that has been playing on the highest level for more than 20 years, I can say that the players are not united enough. Players are not participating enough when they should be. So they make the comments and they complain, and then they go away. And then if something is wrong, after a certain amount of time they come back again.

“But you have to invest the time, you have to invest energy yourself, not your agent, not your team, not your parents, not anybody, yourself, to dedicate yourself to understand how the system works, to understand what are the things that can be done to be reversed, to be improved in terms of the players’ interest.

“For that to happen, you need the top players particularly, you know, to sit down, roll up their sleeves, and really care a bit more about participating in understanding all of the hot topic, I would say. Because going out in the media and talking about this and that, okay, it might stir up some energy or some attention. But in the end of the day, it’s not going to change, nothing is going to change, you know? I know it from my personal experience, trust me. So, yeah, it’s quite a complex topic.”