Carlos Alcaraz says he will take ‘long breaks’ from tennis to deal with ‘impossible’ calendar

World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz has said that in the future, he will be taking longer breaks from tennis to avoid the congested schedule he faces every year.

Alcaraz is currently at the 2026 US Open, where he has reached the third round and is currently facing China's Wu Yibing at Arthur Ashe Stadium, winning the first set 6-3 while leading the second set 4-3. The Spaniard made his comeback to tennis at the ongoing Flushing Meadows after four and a half months following his recovery from a right wrist injury.

Due to the injury and his recovery, Alcaraz had to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. As a result, he has decided to take regular breaks to avoid the risk of injuries and burnout.

Carlos Alcaraz explains why he would miss tournaments deliberately

Alcaraz said that during his wrist injury, he took more time off than he originally wanted and underlined the fact that a packed calendar makes regular breaks necessary.

"I took more [time off] than I wanted, to be honest, but you know, seeing how tight is the calendar, obviously I don't want to have this break because [of] an injury," he said.

Alcaraz further added that he would be taking one to two months off in the future and will miss some tournaments as it gets difficult to play them all.

"But in the future, I'm going to take some breaks, some long breaks. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it's impossible to play them all," he concluded.

Alcaraz's concern comes as his Italian rival Jannik Sinner suffered a similar fate and was ruled out of the US Open due to a right knee injury he sustained after winning the Wimbledon title in July. He is still recovering from the injury.

In addition to Sinner, several players like Jack Draper, Holger Rune and Joao Fonseca are among the absentees at this year's US Open.

Seven out of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments have been extended to 12 days, while only Monte Carlo and Paris have retained the traditional one-week format. As a result, taking the breaks Alcaraz was talking about could become more practical.