Alcaraz confirms the breaks are coming and puts a horizon of 10+ years on the career he wants
Carlos Alcaraz confirms he will take breaks from the tour to extend his career for another 10-15 years. Following his US Open win, he emphasized prioritizing mental and physical health, a decision influenced by a recent wrist injury.
Carlos Alcaraz, US Open 2026 | ©mpi04 / MediaPunch/Psnewz
Four days after telling the US Open that the tennis calendar was impossible and that he would start missing tournaments, Carlos Alcaraz was asked when, and gave an answer about something else entirely. The Spanish No. 2 seed, who beat American No. 20 seed Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals, would not name a month or a tournament. He named a length of career.
“I really want it to last, my career, for the next 10 or 15 years, so I just really want to take care of my mental health and my body,” he said. “Right now, I don’t know. It’s going to be depends, but what I’m sure about is, like, I’m going to take it.”
The vagueness is deliberate and he explained it. “Tennis can be so unpredictable, because you don’t know how many matches you’re going to win, if the tournaments are going to last one match or seven. It’s going to be depends on how I feel physically, how I feel mentally, if I need long breaks at the beginning of the year, in the middle, or at the end.”
On Wednesday the same policy came with numbers attached but no reason beyond the schedule itself. “In the future, I’m going to take some breaks, some long breaks,” he said after beating Portugal’s Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.
If they don’t do anything about it, we are going to see even more in the future.
“Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.” He put the mandatory commitments at 40 weeks of tennis for anyone playing everything the ATP requires, and pointed at the players who were not in New York at all: Jannik Sinner, Jack Draper, Holger Rune and Joao Fonseca among them. “If they don’t do anything about it, we are going to see even more in the future.”
He is speaking from the inside of the problem. The wrist injury he sustained in April cost him four and a half months and he returned to defend a title rather than to build towards one. The consequences show up in small places. Golf, which he plays, is off the calendar for the season. His days between matches at this tournament have gone to recovery rather than to anything else. “Those days, if I’m practicing or not, I’m trying to be chill and focus on the next round,” he said. “So golf in this year isn’t an option.”
The link he made on Sunday between skipping tournaments and lasting a decade or more is one the sport has already watched play out. Speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Murray argued that the younger players have simply read the evidence. “These younger guys have seen how Roger and Rafael have elongated their careers, how they finished their careers as well. If they want to play until they’re 34, 35, 36, they will probably have to skip tournaments and that’s something the Tour needs to consider.”
Alcaraz plays American No. 8 seed Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals, three wins from a third consecutive US Open title.
