Somewhere in Spain, Carlos Alcaraz can put his feet up and reflect on what appears to be a rather wise decision. While the World No 1 rests after winning the Japan Open title, he can do so safely away from the “brutal” conditions at the Shanghai Masters, where extreme heat and humidity has blown the draw wide open. Jannik Sinner is out after retiring from his third-round match against Tallon Griekspoor due to painful cramp. Novak Djokovic battled through, but only after throwing up on court during his gruelling win over Yannick Hanfmann on Sunday.
Alcaraz pulled out of Shanghai, one of the ATP’s premier 1000 events, in order to protect the left ankle injury he sustained during his run to the Tokyo title. But even with a fully fit ankle, and without the extreme weather, Alcaraz could have foreseen such a situation unfolding as we enter perhaps the most demanding stretch of the tennis season and many players realise their tanks are close to empty. The nature of the new 12-day Masters events, of which Shanghai is one of the seven expanded tournaments played across the ATP season, asks even more of the players who go on a deep run the previous week.
Alcaraz won the Japan Open title last Tuesday, Sinner won his China Open title on Wednesday, the same day the Shanghai Masters began. As top seeds, both players received byes to the second round, but the relentless nature of the schedule comes at a time when players are feeling the effects of a long season anyway. Sinner’s retirement was the seventh of the week in Shanghai, to add to a string of injury-curtailed matches from Beijing before then.
Meanwhile, on the WTA Tour, the World No 19 Daria Kasatkina became the latest player to end her season early. “The truth is, I've hit a wall and can't continue,” the Russian-born Kasatkina, who now represents Australia, wrote on Instagram. “I need a break. A break from the monotonous daily grind of life on the tour, the suitcases, the results, the pressure, the same faces (sorry, girls), everything that comes with this life.
“The schedule is too much, mentally and emotionally I am at breaking point and sadly, I am not alone." Elina Svitolina and Beatriz Haddad Maia have also opted to end their seasons early in order to rest, with Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff adding to the criticism of the schedule as they enter the final weeks of the year. World No 2 Swiatek called the season “too long and too intense” and suggested she could skip some mandatory events.
As a grand slam champion this season and with plenty of ranking points and prize money already banked, Swiatek is at least in a position to do this. The WTA has mandatory requirements for top players to enter all 10 WTA 1000 tournaments and six WTA 500 events. The World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, though, opted to skip the China Open in Beijing and will enter the Wuhan tournament this week refreshed from almost a month off after winning the US Open title. “I think we made the right decision to take extra time for recovery and for the preparation,” Sabalenka said after arriving in Wuhan. “Physically, I feel ready to go."
Alcaraz is likely to feel a similar benefit once Shanghai is concluded, as the 22-year-old targets a strong end to the season and his first ATP Tour Finals title. Although complaints about the tennis schedule run a little thin when Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic have signed up to the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia, to be played next week, a couple of days in Riyadh is also a far less demanding assignment than a 12-day Masters event, where players feel stretched out and do not enjoy the interrupted rhythm.
Ultimately, the sport loses something too when Alcaraz and Sinner are not involved heading the second half of one of biggest events outside of the grand slams. And in the last-16 in Shanghai, it can feel like there are players strewn across the draw who are not only battling against the conditions but their own fatigue, mental and physical.
The exception, perhaps, will be the 38-year-old Djokovic, who chose not to play in any tournaments in between Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. He, too, is in the privileged position of not needing to chase ranking points or prize money, but it could be remarkably telling if Djokovic’s less-is-more approach proves successful at this challenging point of the year.
