"People don’t understand us" - Carlos Alcaraz defends participating in exhibitions after backlash over his complaints about the schedule

Carlos Alcaraz vociferously defended his and other players' participation at exhibition events despite having previously voiced complaints about the hectic nature of the tennis calendar. The World No. 1 has faced criticism repeatedly for calling out the tennis schedule but still choosing to feature in multiple exhibition tournaments.

Alcaraz is currently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for this year's edition of the Six Kings Slam, a lucrative exhibition event that started in 2024. Here, in the buildup to his opening encounter against Taylor Fritz in the semifinals, the Spaniard opined that exhibition tournaments are not as mentally taxing as official ATP Tour-level events. The six-time Major champion, in a conversation with the PA news agency, said:

"Obviously I understand (the criticism), but sometimes the people don’t understand us, our opinions. When I see a lot of people complaining about how we are defending the exhibitions, I don’t understand them because, as I said, it’s not really demanding mentally (compared to) when we’re having such long events like two weeks or two-and-a-half weeks. It’s really tough."

In the past, Carlos Alcaraz has been critical of the tennis calendar on multiple occasions. Most notably, at the 2024 Laver Cup, the Spaniard raised his concerns with a rather dramatic statement, saying:

"Probably they (ATP Tour) are going to kill us in some way."

Carlos Alcaraz's Six Kings Slam SF opponent Taylor Fritz highlights "tough part" in balancing exhibitions with tour-level events

Taylor Fritz in action at the 2025 Six Kings Slam (Source: Getty)

Taylor Fritz, who dispatched Alexander Zverev in straight sets to set up a semifinal encounter against Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 Six Kings Slam, recently had his say on the tennis schedule and players' participation at exhibition events. According to the American, the packed schedule makes it difficult for players to pick and choose the exhibition tournaments they feature in. Fritz told Tennis365:

"You get tournaments where you have the best players in the world playing against each other. I think the unfortunate side of it is the schedule is already extremely packed, so you have to kind of choose between these things that are very enjoyable to do and how packed the tour already is. That’s the tough part, but when the schedule allows it, it’s great to be at these events."

Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz most recently faced each other in the final of this year's Japan Open, which the Spaniard won 6-4, 6-4.

Edited by Sudipto Pati