World number one Carlos Alcaraz says players are misunderstood when they want to play in exhibition tournaments alongside the demanding tennis calendar.
Alcaraz, 22, was among those critical of the workload in Asia, where some players struggled physically, with the Spaniard saying he would consider skipping mandatory events to prioritise his health.
He is top seed at this week’s lucrative Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, a six-man tournament from 15 to 18 October that also includes Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
There is a reported $4.5m (£3.4m) in prize money on offer at the exhibition, with some players also likely to have been paid seven-figure sums to appear.
Reports say the winner could take home up to $6m (£4.5m).
But Alcaraz feels that shorter-format events such as the Six Kings Slam are less gruelling than tour competitions, and therefore make fewer demands on the players.
He said: “A lot of players are talking about the calendar, how tight it is with a lot of tournaments, tournaments of two weeks, and then making excuses with exhibitions.
“It’s a different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically.
“We’re just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and that’s great, and why we choose the exhibitions.
“I understand [the criticism], but sometimes people don’t understand us, our opinions. It’s not really demanding mentally [compared with] when we’re having such long events like two weeks or two and a half weeks.”
Alcaraz won his eighth title of the season in Tokyo last month despite an ankle injury sustained in his opening match that prompted him to pull out of the Shanghai Masters.
He will play in Saudi Arabia despite the injury not being fully healed. “Everything’s OK,” said Alcaraz. “I’ve been recovering the ankle as much as I can.
“I don’t feel 100% – the doubts are there when I’m moving on court, but it improved a lot and I’m going to compete and perform well in the Six Kings Slam.”
Alcaraz has a bye to the semi-finals of the event, which will be broadcast on Netflix, where he will face either Fritz or Zverev on Thursday.
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