Greg Rusedski has suggested that Carlos Alcaraz’s wrist problem may have been the result of overloading his schedule, and he said exhibition appearances did not help.

Alcaraz was riding high after becoming the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open at 22. For a time, he appeared to be pulling clear of the rest of the ATP Tour, including Jannik Sinner. But Sinner responded by winning the Sunshine Double and then beating Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo Masters final.

A wrist injury then emerged in mid-April and kept Alcaraz out for more than four months. The 23-year-old has returned strongly at the US Open, yet he has already indicated that he wants to build more rest into his future planning.

Alcaraz told reporters this week, “ In the future, I’m going to take some breaks. Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.”

Rusedski, a former US Open finalist, believes the issue is about balance and said he thinks Alcaraz and his former coach Juan Carlos Ferrero may have disagreed over the value of exhibition events. On Off Court, he said, “Well, I think a certain coach by the name of Juan Carlos Ferrero was talking about stop chasing the money at the exhibitions, let’s get a proper schedule, let’s figure out how we’re going to work this financially between the two of us, and he’s finally figured it out.

“Why did he [Alcaraz] get injured? He overplayed. It’s as simple as that. You cannot play every exhibition during the off season, expect to be fit and not break down. It’s humanly not possible, no matter how great you are.”

Ferrero had previously defended Alcaraz’s decision to play exhibitions ahead of his match against Frances Tiafoe in Puerto Rico in February 2025, saying, “They allow you to relax a little, they are played in a different way. But there’s a certain level of intensity and demand. Playing this type of match with a smile, putting on a show for the fans, it always helps to relax a bit.”

Rusedski also noted that Alcaraz played the second-most matches behind Alexander Zverev in 2025, while also appearing in the ‘Netflix Slam’ with Rafael Nadal in 2024, the Six Kings Slam in the past two years, and with Joao Fonseca in Miami in 2025.

He concluded that Alcaraz will need to manage his body more carefully going forward and accept that every exhibition cannot be part of the calendar.

Former world No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic has stepped into the growing dispute around tennis scheduling, arguing that the sport is facing criticism no matter what it does.

The debate has intensified in 2026 as players continue to speak out about a tour that many feel has become too physical and too long. That has fed renewed demands for calendar reform, while injuries to Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper have also sharpened concerns over the demands placed on the game’s leading figures. Questions around the quality of tennis balls have been part of that wider discussion.

At the US Open, late-night finishes have drawn particular attention. Venus Williams did not begin her first-round match until after midnight, while Alexander Zverev has had back-to-back finishes in the early hours of the morning. Greg Rusedski has also called for weed to be banned from Flushing Meadows after Aryna Sabalenka’s latest complaints.

Against that backdrop, former British player Mark Petchey argued that the sport’s wider momentum should not be ignored, saying tennis is “ exploding in popularity” and that more should be done to celebrate the “hardest sport in the world”.

Ljubicic, who was Roger Federer’s former coach, responded after Christopher Clarey highlighted a run of late finishes at the US Open. He tweeted, “THREE nights past 2 a.m., not the kind of record you want to be setting. Is there not a much better way for the health and well-being of everyone involved in the tournament?”

He later added, “Well we have @rolandgarros scheduling one night session match – controversial? @Wimbledon with 11pm curfew… Controversial?… Seems like whatever our sport does is controversial…”

The response to Clarey’s post was mixed, but many agreed with Ljubicic’s view. Whether the tournament makes changes now or later remains unclear, yet the issue has again placed tennis under scrutiny at one of its biggest events.

Carlos Alcaraz has moved through the opening stages of the US Open with the kind of control that has made him the player to beat.

After not competing since April, the Spaniard has returned to action in New York and taken care of Roman Safiullin, Jaime Faria, and Wu Yibing to reach the fourth round. He has lost only one set across those three matches, and even with a serve that still appears below his best, he has looked composed, sharp, and increasingly convincing.

His next assignment is against Tommy Paul on Sunday, 6th September, with the order of play still to be confirmed. Even so, the match is expected to be on Arthur Ashe Stadium. It is shaping up as his most demanding test so far, and the level of opposition does not get lighter from there, with Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe among the names waiting in the next phase of the event.

For all that, the opening week has largely unfolded in Alcaraz’s favor. While he has advanced with relative ease, several of his rivals have already exited. Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur, and Arthur Fils were all beaten in the first week, while Alexander Zverev, the top seed, has been pushed to five sets in both of his opening matches against Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys, with both contests stretching into the early hours.

There had even been doubt in some quarters about whether Alcaraz would take part in singles at all, despite his mixed doubles debut alongside Serena Williams. Marion Bartoli addressed that speculation on Sky Sports Tennis after that defeat, saying: “When he played the mixed doubles with Serena, and they lost the second match, the rumours going around with different coaches was that he was not going to take to the court in singles,” said the Frenchwoman.

She added: “That was the rumour going into the players’ area. But he is through the first week and breezing through it. He has done the job perfectly. He has been on point with the mentality as well. He was fist-pumping a lot, having a lot of energy. You can see it is a joy to be out there.”