Philippoussis cuts to the chase on the controversy involving Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

2026 was undoubtedly an unusual year for tennis, due to the various injuries that affected the season for many top players. The two stars who have dominated the tour over the past three years, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, have been sidelined for long periods due to nagging physical issues, and the ATP calendar—which is increasingly packed with events and tournaments—has come under scrutiny from industry insiders.

Alcaraz himself highlighted the issue in a recent press conference, announcing that starting next season he might take longer breaks to recover physically. Former Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis, however, took a decidedly different stance on the matter.

““I don’t think anyone is holding a gun to the players’ heads to force them to play all these weeks,” he explained. “They can always say no. In tennis, as we all know, there’s no real off-season, and it’s very difficult to find a balance in managing the schedule. We need to understand what’s best for each individual player.”.

“I know there’s a lot of money at stake; I understand that. The weeks when they can rest are usually the ones when they earn a lot from exhibition matches. So they want those weeks off, but at the same time, they receive very high compensation for playing those tournaments, and that’s why they don’t say no. It’s up to them to decide what to do. Even Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic used to say no because they were focusing on the Grand Slam tournaments,” concluded the 2003 Wimbledon finalist.