Sabalenka supports Alcaraz's protest: "We will have to sacrifice whatever it takes to protect our health"

The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz He made a lot of noise when he warned at a press conference at the US Open that “it won’t be four months, but I will take breaks of one or two months, in the future I will miss tournaments that are mandatory.” Fresh from an injury, he pointed to the calendar, to the appointments designated as unavoidable according to the ATP regulations.

He raised a sensitive topic in the locker room, although he was forced to clarify, days later, that he was not referring to his wrist injury specifically when he spoke about the fact that many players were suffering significant injuries, which showed fatigue in tournaments.

“No, this injury was not from playing too much. There are injuries that are pure bad luck,” Alcaraz said. He referred more to a general situation, to the need not only to preserve the body, but also the mind. “I am one of those who do not need to play many tournaments. So I prefer to be mentally and physically healthy to face the tournaments, feel the emotion of the competition and participate in them, whatever it may be. I feel that one can have those moments to rest, prepare well for the tournaments, prepare mentally,” he analyzed.

Carlos Alcaraz, in action at the 2026 US Open tennis, where he defends the title after four and a half months without competing due to injuryÁngel Colmenares / EFE

And he noted that “I want to take long breaks because it is impossible to last the entire season playing all the tournaments. You have to miss tennis, to step on the court and have fun. When I play many tournaments week after week I feel like I don’t play with joy.”

A protest in the background towards the organizations that govern the circuit. The male is in charge of the Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP), whose female counterpart is WTA. In both cases there is a series of tournaments, or competition quota in a specific category, considered ‘mandatory’, that the main tennis players must play.

Carlos Alcaraz reunited with Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells — Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz agree on their vision of the mandatory tournament calendar

And that is the fight of the main figures. The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenkadefending a title at the US Open like Carlos Alcaraz and also a world No. 1 who depends more on the Kazakh Elena Rybakinapublicly supported the Spanish thesis in New York.

“I would love to see changes to the calendar, to eliminate mandatory events so that players can decide what is best for their health. If you play at a level like Carlos’s, very constant, it is difficult for the body,” he said.

Sabalenka also stressed the need not to attend events if there is no modification to the calendar and its rules. “If the agencies don’t reduce it, we will have to sacrifice ranking points, ranking position, whatever, in order to protect our bodies.”

Sabalenka maintains a halo of hope. “I hope so, that the WTA and the ATP, in some way, relax the calendar a little for us, to really take care of our health,” he said.