{"id":2800,"date":"2026-09-15T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2800"},"modified":"2026-09-15T13:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:00:11","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-told-to-backtrack-on-his-controversial-comments-as-he-looks-to-step-up-his-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2800","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz told to backtrack on his controversial comments as he looks to step up his comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> won widespread praise for his comeback from injury at the US Open, but he also offered up some comments that raised plenty of eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz\u2019s decision to play a best-of-five-set Grand Slam match in his comeback event after a four-and-a-half-month injury lay-off was widely questioned by high-profile former players like Andy Roddick and Greg Rusedski.<\/p>\n

His impressive performances in New York banished the notion that he made a mistake to make his return at the US Open, but his suggestion that he is planning to take long breaks from tennis from this point forward in his career created a talking point that is rumbling on long after his quarter-final defeat against Ben Shelton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the future, I\u2019m going to take some breaks,\u201d said Alcaraz after defeating Jaime Faria in the second round of the New York Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it\u2019s impossible to play them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Carlos Alcaraz still has a major point to prove for the rest of the 2026 season despite successful comeback<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexander Zverev told he is not part of a Big 3 with Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner after US Open win<\/a><\/p>\n

Alcaraz is set to play at the Laver Cup in London next week and is also expected to compete in the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition event, with both of those events securing him a big appearance fee.<\/p>\n

If he is keen to take breaks from the sport, playing in exhibition events will be questioned, and experienced coach Patrick Mouratoglou has joined the debate.<\/p>\n

The former coach of Serena Willams gave his verdict on Alcaraz in a LinkedIn post, as he urged the seven-time Grand Slam champion to play a full schedule between now and the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarlos said there are too many tournaments and that he wants to focus on the most important ones,\u201d wrote Mouratoglou.<\/p>\n

He is 22. When you\u2019re 22, you play. There are moments when he doesn\u2019t feel like it, I understand that, and it\u2019s important that he addresses it, because Carlos is Carlos when he\u2019s inspired.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspired, he\u2019s probably the best player in the world, and that excitement has to stay alive all season. But he also needs matches. To keep developing his tennis, and to arrive physically ready at a Grand Slam, which he could not do here. Enough to be ready, not so many that he arrives empty. That balance is thin, and it\u2019s his to find.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody can blame him for this US Open: he was injured. What comes next is a choice. I don\u2019t know how high his motivation is to go to Asia but I think he needs matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this US Open, it\u2019s important for him to keep playing. I\u2019m not saying he should play every week, but at least the big tournaments. I\u2019d like to see him play at least two tournaments in Asia and two indoors before the end of the season and he should aim to win them.<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is also a title he has never won: the ATP Finals, the eight best players in the world in one event. After so many months away, that is exactly the hunger I want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz\u2019s wrist appeared to hold up well to the demands of playing a long five-set match against Shelton at the US Open and unless he has had a reaction since then, Mouratoglou\u2019s hope that we see a lot more of the Spaniard should become a reality before the ATP Finals in Turin in November.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: \u2018Time to get rid of him\u2019 \u2013 John McEnroe savaged over response to Alexander Zverev\u2019s US Open win<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Carlos Alcaraz told to backtrack on his controversial comments as he looks to step up his comeback<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz won widespread praise for his comeback from injury at the US Open, but he also offered up some comments that raised plenty of eyebrows. Alcaraz\u2019s decision to play a best-of-five-set Grand Slam match in his comeback event after a four-and-a-half-month injury lay-off was widely questioned by high-profile former players like Andy Roddick and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}