Carlos Alcaraz recently wrapped up its official 2025 calendar with year-end No. 1 ATP rankings, tour highs with 71 match wins and eight trophies and a pair of Grand Slam titles which brought his career total to six.
Yes, his season is over, but his year is not. Indeed, Alcaraz, 22, who did not represent Spain in the Davis Cup Final 8 last week due to pain his right hamstringis entered into two upcoming exhibition events that include singles matches against the two-time US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe in Newark, New Jersey, on December 7, and against João Fonsecaa 19-year-old Brazilian, placed 24th in Miami on December 8.
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Alcaraz is one of many tennis players criticism of the calendar of his sportsaying it lasts too long, asks too much of athletes and provides too short an offseason.
Does he understand why some fans might wonder why he would add these unofficial releases?
“First of all, it’s normal that people think that way and don’t understand why we complain about the schedule and then we have exhibition matches,” Alcaraz told the Associated Press. “But for me the main difference is that in a tournament you have to stay focused and it’s really physically and mentally demanding for a week and a half. And an exhibition only lasts a day. You just have to stay focused, warm up, practice not a lot, for a match.”
It comes down, he said, to the external and internal pressure that comes with working every week – for wins, for ranking points, for hardware – that builds up as the season goes on.
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This sort of thing is absent when Alcaraz swings his racket somewhere other than the All England Club or Roland-Garrosand rather at the homes of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, for example, or Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, two venues that had never hosted professional tennis before.
Ross Hutchins, who oversees the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup as the new CEO of the International Tennis Federation, thinks that kind of visibility is good for the game.
“We have cities, governments, places, individuals, entrepreneurs, federations that just want more tennis. Everyone wants more tennis, and the sport is growing and growing and growing with its appeal. So we’re in a happy place right now,” Hutchins said.
“It’s hard to say it’s bad for players to play in a new place,” he added, “and it’s hard to criticize players for that because of the dynamic they find themselves in” as independent contractors who “never know when your form is going to dip or what injury might happen.”
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At the Prudential Center, in addition to Alcaraz against Tiafoe, there will be a singles match between the 2024 US Open finalist Jessica Pegula and finalist at Wimbledon and US Open 2025 Amanda Anisimovaplus a few mixed doubles.
At LoanDepot Park the following night, Alcaraz vs. Fonseca will be accompanied by another clash between Pegula and Anisimova, as well as a 10-point mixed doubles tiebreaker.
“You can approach exhibitions in different ways. You can (do it) just for fun, playing good tennis, good shots and having fun. Or you can approach it by playing very seriously and (using) tactics and trying different things that you want to do later, at an event,” Alcaraz said. “So for these matches, I’m going to play well, I’m going to take it very seriously, but at the same time, I’m going to try to have fun as much as possible. For me, that’s what matters. When I’m having fun on the court, I can show my best tennis.”
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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
