Carlos Alcaraz admitted that not everything is smooth sailing in the world of tennis at the moment, even for the sports' top stars such as himself.
The Spaniard beat unseeded Hamad Medjedovic 6-4 6-4 in the Round of 32 at the Cincinnati Open on Tuesday (August 12) to claim his 50th victory of 2025.
Despite securing a straight sets win, Alcaraz struggled at times during the 95-minute contest due to his Serbian opponent's resilience plus the humid weather conditions.
The world no. 2 had to dig deep to avoid being forced into a deciding set and seemed pleased to be done with proceedings after serving out the contest.
In his post-match interview, the five-time Grand Slam champion opened up on his current state and gave an honest observation of how the tennis schedule affects players.
"The season is really long. Playing a lot of matches, a lot of tournaments. Probably more than half of the matches we play, you don’t feel that good," the 22-year-old claimed.
"So you have to think positive and just play your best tennis possible that day. I’m happy in really difficult matches I’m able to do that and play my best tennis even if I’m not feeling in the right way," Alcaraz added.
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The second seed will now face unseeded Italian Luca Nardi on Wednesday night (August 13) for a spot in the quarter-final at the Masters 1000 event.
Alcaraz's comments highlight major issue in tennis
It will concern the ATP and WTA that one of tennis' biggest stars feels that he cannot be at full strength for most of the season.
Providing others echo Alcaraz's thoughts, players can suddenly drop their performance levels and unexpectedly bow out of tournaments, as the fatigue levels are simply too high.
A few weeks ago, Leylah Fernandez secured the Washington Open title, but due to the quick turnaround of events and little rest time available to her, she lost in the first round at both the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.
In addition to not being able to maintain a high level on the court, the congested schedule Alcaraz speaks of has led to mass withdrawals at tournaments.
Alcaraz was one of a few top male players to skip the Canadian Open because he was in need of a mental and physical rest from the court.
This unfortunately meant tennis fans in Toronto experienced a tournament absent of the game's biggest male players.
The Canadian Open Tournament Director, Karl Hale, was obviously disappointed with players such as Alcaraz for skipping the event.
However, he pinned the blame on the current tennis schedule for the issue, labelling it "too long", and pointing out that there are more 250 and 500 events than necessary.
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