'Impossible' - Carlos Alcaraz forced to take drastic action after recent injury scare

Carlos Alcaraz believes he will be forced to take 'long breaks' from tennis and miss some big tournaments to combat the relentless match calendar.

The Spaniard has returned to action at the US Open in New York after a lengthy injury layoff following a wrist injury in April, which forced him to miss the rest of the clay-court season and the entire grass-court season.

Alcaraz couldn't defend his French Open title at Roland-Garros in June and withdrew from Wimbledon, where he finished runner-up last year. The 23-year-old was also forced to withdraw from the Cincinnati Open last month, which he planned to play in as preparation for the US Open.

He will always plan to fight for the biggest titles in the sport, but Alcaraz is prepared to take plenty of time off to reduce fatigue and minimise the risk of injury.

“I took more than I wanted, but seeing how tight the calendar is, I don’t want to have this break because of an injury,” Alcaraz told reporters after beating Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the US Open.

“In the future, I’m going to take some long breaks. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.”

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ATP calendar change could be partly to blame for tennis injuries

Since last year, seven of the nine ATP Masters 1000 events have extended their schedules from one week to 12 days, increasing the demands on the top players.

The ATP insists it is down to players to manage their own schedules, though Alcaraz believes it is down to the authorities to create a manageable calendar for athletes.

He continued: “They are adding more important tournaments. In a way, they are making us play.

“You can say no and decide your calendar, but there are some Masters 1000s, some Grand Slams, and we are out playing 40 weeks if we have to play every mandatory tournament that the ATP requires us to play.”

As well as his own lengthy injury lay-off this season, his great rival Jannik Sinner is currently sidelined and missed the US Open. It means the Australian Open was the only Grand Slam this season which has seen both Sinner and Alcaraz compete.

Alcaraz believes these absences will become more common occurrences unless something is done to reduce the number of matches.

“We are seeing a lot of players getting injured and tired. If they don’t do anything about it, we are going to see even more in the future."

Alcaraz is the defending champion at the US Open and will face China's Wu Yibing in the third round on Friday. In doing so, the Spaniard became the youngest player to record 16 consecutive Grand Slam match wins since compatriot Rafael Nadal in 2008.