The defending US Open champion made the remarks after advancing to the third round of the ongoing Grand Slam, where he recovered from a first-set loss to beat Portugal\u2019s Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Alcaraz, who returned to competitive action after a four-month layoff due to a wrist injury, admitted that although he did not want the lengthy break to come about because of an injury, he expects to deliberately step away from the tour for shorter periods in the future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI took more than I wanted, to be honest, but seeing how tight is the calendar, obviously I don\u2019t want to have this break because an injury. But in the future, I\u2019m going to take some breaks, some long breaks. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it\u2019s impossible to play them all,\u201d the defending champion said after the match.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Spaniard believes players need to be more selective about their schedules as the number of important tournaments continues to rise.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI think they adding more important tournaments. In a way they making us to play,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cYou can decide your calendar, but there are some Masters 1000s, some Grand Slams, and we\u2019ve been out playing 40 weeks if we got to play every mandatory tournament that the ATP required us to play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Alcaraz said the workload was becoming increasingly difficult to manage and warned that the situation could lead to more injuries and tired players unless changes are made.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s impossible, and we are seeing a lot of players getting injured, a lot of players getting tired. If they don\u2019t do anything about it, we are going to see even more in the future,\u201d he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Alcaraz\u2019s comments came after he responded strongly to Faria following a shaky opening set.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Faria's muted cheers when he took the first set, 6-4. After a wobbly first set, Alcaraz saved a break point in his opening service game of the second set before tallying eight consecutive games. He rallied to hold and then, for the rest of the set, basically kicked Faria in the shins, racing to a 6-0 showing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Alcaraz dominated with 43 winners compared to Faria\u2019s 27, winning eight consecutive games and breaking the Portuguese\u2019s serve five times in a row to clinch the third set 6-3. By securing the fourth set to claim the match, the seven-time major champion extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 16 matches and improved his US Open record to 26-3. He was effective on break points, converting seven out of 12 opportunities, while Faria converted two of his seven chances.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The No. 3-seeded Spaniard is aiming to become the first player to defend the US Open title since Roger Federer triumphed five times in a row from 2004 to 2008. Alcaraz is a two-time champion in New York, having won his first major title there in 2022 before his 2025 triumph.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Alcaraz dominated with 43 winners compared to Faria\u2019s 27, winning eight consecutive games and breaking the Portuguese\u2019s serve five times in a row to clinch the third set 6-3. By securing the fourth set to claim the match, the seven-time major champion extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 16 matches and improved his US Open record to 26-3. He was effective on break points, converting seven out of 12 opportunities, while Faria converted two of his seven chances.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Improving to 9-0 at the majors in 2026, Alcaraz next meets China\u2019s Wu Yibing, who ousted James Duckworth 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. Alcaraz leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 1-0. Their only meeting was in Shanghai in 2024.<\/p>\r\n\r\n