Carlos Alcaraz has split opinion among both tennis players and fans with his recent comments.

Alcaraz has just won the Japan Open, which is his third consecutive singles title and eighth of the 2025 season.

From the outside, it appears like nothing can go wrong for the world number one at the moment, with Alcaraz claiming he is in the best form of his life.

However, after his win in Tokyo, Alcaraz has made comments that have not gone down with some tennis fans.

Carlos Alcaraz at a Japan Open press conference.Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty ImagesCarlos Alcaraz called out after claiming there are too many tournaments

The tennis calendar is often widely discussed and criticised for being too busy, with world number two Iga Swiatek particularly critical of the calendar at the China Open this week.

Not every player echoes this sentiment, with Qinwen Zheng disagreeing with Swiatek, but it appears that Alcaraz is of the same mind as the Wimbledon champion.

“I agree with Iga,” Alcaraz said in his press conference after winning the Japan Open. “I think that the schedule is really tight. They have to do something with the schedule. I think there are too many mandatory tournaments, too many in a row.

“They put in some rules that we have to play Masters 1000s, 500 tournaments, whatever it is. But there are too many rules that we as tennis players are not allowed to have a choice if we have to play or not.

“To be honest, I have to consider in the future if I have to skip some mandatory tournaments just to maintain my physical condition and good shape. Obviously it’s more than the physical condition.

“I think mentally it’s really demanding as well, playing so many mandatory tournaments in a row or playing so many tournaments without having days to rest up mentally. I will consider skipping some mandatory tournaments to the benefit of myself mentally. I agree with Iga and I think a lot of players are going to do that.”

This is not the first time that Alcaraz has criticised the tennis calendar, but tennis fans have now pointed out a hypocrisy in his comments.

While Alcaraz has every right to call out the tennis calendar, some of his recent decisions do not exactly align with these comments.

Alcaraz played an exhibition in Puerto Rico earlier this year, and has already been announced for three more after the 2025 season is finished; in Riyadh for the ‘Six Kings Slam‘, as well as two in the States in Portland, New Jersey and Miami, Florida.

The money earned from exhibitions is almost entirely the reason players compete in them, and this is particularly relevant for the ‘Six Kings Slam’, where every participant earns $1.5 million just for turning up, and can take home a total of $6 million if they win the event.

As a result of this, some have now criticised Alcaraz for being hypocritical, as he has signed up to play more tennis, despite complaining about how many tournaments there are to play.

One wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “If he wasn’t playing 6263626353 exhibition tournaments he would have been right.”

Another added, “Solution is easy: play less exhibitions and stop complaining! Normally Spaniards are admirable fighters who never complain, I am surprised by this statement from him.”

View Tweet

Someone else suggested that even playing the Laver Cup recently was an unnecessary thing for Alcaraz to do.

“He would make a better point if he hadn’t just picked up an extra week on needless tennis with the Laver Cup which is essentially a week long exho (exhibition), that would’ve been a good week of rest for him”

View Tweet

The same sentiment continued to be echoed, “Carlos, I love you, but you are playing unnecessary exhibitions for money. Please.”

View Tweet

“Glad he‘s getting some rest and takes time off before the really important Six Kings Slam Event… or the fact he’s playing two (!) exos in December…”

View Tweet

How has Carlos Alcaraz responded to these hypocrisy claims before?

This is not the first time that this issue has come up for Alcaraz, as he played a very similar exhibition schedule in 2024.

Alcaraz was asked about this at the China Open last year, where he defended his decision in his pre-tournament press conference.

“I’ve seen a lot of people talk about my exhibitions this year and complain about the schedule, at the same time putting a lot of exhibition,” Alcaraz said at the time. “But I want to say there is different things; we all have to separate the exhibitions and the calendar.

“Yeah, as I said, it’s about different feelings in every person. So I’m talking about myself, that the schedule it’s been so tight since the first week of January till the last week of November. We have to talk about it ourselves and we have to do something about it.”

View Tweet

While there has been criticism for the young Spaniard, it does appear that the schedule has taken its toll on Alcaraz as he has since withdrawn from the Shanghai Masters due to some ‘physical issues’.

Alcaraz’s withdrawal has left an opportunity open for Jannik Sinner, with the Italian now having a chance to return to world number one.