High numbers of players withdrawing from tournaments due to injuries has become a persistent theme in 2026, and former Grand Slam finalist John Lloyd has warned “it’s going to get worse” in an interview with Tennis365.
The ATP and WTA 500 events at the 2026 Queen’s Club Championships were both significantly impacted by withdrawals, with 17 players (nine men and eight women) pulling out across both singles entry lists.
Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper, Jessica Pegula, Marta Kostyuk, Belinda Bencic and Rafael Jodar were some of the high-profile absentees.
There are already eight men and five women who have withdrawn from the 2026 Wimbledon Championships — including four current top 20 stars; Alcaraz, Victoria Mboko, Lorenzo Musetti and Valentin Vacherot.
Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 at the Queen’s Club, Lloyd argued that the best-of-five set Grand Slam format and the tennis schedule are behind the injury issues in the men’s game specifically.
“It’s going to get worse,” said the former British No 1, who reached a career-high ranking of world No 23.
“An ideal world — which will never happen — is that they move the Australian Open to March, but it’ll never happen. But at least the better compromise is they make the Grand Slams best of three [sets].
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“And it’s not the physicality of the matches at the Slams, although that is extreme. In my opinion, it’s the preparation That’s where the body breaks down.
“Because if you look at it logically, tennis is one of the most rigorous sports there is. Tennis, there’s a break at the end of the year, but it’s really for six weeks maximum.
“You get the six weeks off, and people say that’s a long time, but it isn’t. You take two weeks off to kind of recharge, and even then, you’re still on empty, and then you’ve got to start preparing, not just for a tournament like Queen’s, you’ve got to prepare for a major!
“So you’ve go to go from being dormant, almost hibernating, to go to the extreme to get ready for possibly seven, four-hour matches. You’re putting your body through this ridiculous turbocharge without gradually going into it.
“You finish that one, and then you have a week or so off, and then you have Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back. You have a little break, then you’ve got to start preparing for the French [Open] and Wimbledon.
“Then you recover from that, you have a couple of weeks off, then you’ve got to recover for the US Open. It’s insanity.”
Lloyd, who was a runner-up at the 1977 Australian Open, added: “Best-of-five, the physicality of these guys now… best-of-five in my day is the same as best-of-three now, in terms of what they do with their bodies and the physicality.
“They’re animals — and I mean that in the best way. But they are going to break down, and it will happen more and more.”
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