Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawals infuriate Bertolucci: “Shame”
The never-ending match between Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton in the US Open quarterfinals is generating a lot of buzz: the two superstars faced off for over four and a half hours, and the final point was played at 3:33 a.m. In the end, the American came out on top in the fifth set.
In a scathing post on his X profile, Paolo Bertolucci couldn’t hold back his anger: “They’ve decided to kill tennis. Over 4 hours of play ending at 3:30 in the morning. Then they complain about absences due to injuries.”
“Shame on them! Asking an athlete to perform at 3 a.m. means carrying out a diabolical plan designed to destroy tennis. One year without Rune and Draper. Months on the sidelines for Alcaraz, Musetti, and Sinner. Please, keep it up,” the tennis legend remarked ironically.
The issue of overly packed schedules has long been a hot topic in the world of tennis: several champions have spoken out, hoping that the ATP and WTA would do something, but so far nothing has changed. Among the leading voices in this protest is Carlos Alcaraz, who spoke out in no uncertain terms less than a week ago.
“Given how packed the schedule is, obviously I never wanted to have a break like this due to an injury. But in the future, I’ll take breaks—even fairly long ones. Maybe not four months, but a month or two, skipping some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all. We’re seeing a lot of players get injured and many others arrive exhausted. If nothing is done, we’ll see even more of this in the future,” said the Murcia native.
