Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz rage about tennis's biggest problem

Nearly every top player has the same complaint and those players include Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. The issue is how long the tennis schedule lasts each year. Tournaments begin at the very end of December and could run through late November. This is especially true on the ATP side where the ATP Finals take place in the middle of November and then are followed by Davis Cup competition.

Longer seasons with little break between tournaments will lead to more injuries as a player with a wrist problem, for instance, doesn't have time to rest the problem as tennis has many mandatory events for players to keep their ranking points. Sure, there is a lot of money involved, but if a player is hurt and can't play, there would be no money earned from events.

At the Laver Cup this past weekend, Alcaraz did not mince words when he spoke about the tennis schedule. The Spaniard told the media, "Probably they are going to kill us in some way. Right now a lot of good players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of (injury)."

Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz have the same complaint about the tennis schedule

As Alcaraz had re-opened that conversation, the media also asked Zverev about the subject at the Laver Cup. The German admitted that currently he does not have a huge issue with the season personally because he has been able to stay healthy for most of the last two years, but he does think the schedule is unnecessarily long.

He said, "Ask me again in about seven, eight years' time. Then I'll probably answer differently. But we do have the longest season in sports. I mean, I have said it before. It's unnecessarily long. We have unnecessarily, you know, we have unnecessary amount of tournaments...there is no time to rest, but more importantly, the rest, there is no time to prepare your body. There is no time to build muscle. There is no time to just say I'm not going to touch my tennis racquet for a month."

Of course, this is all a Catch-22 for many players. Most at the top of the rankings can make a lot of money from endorsements, but most other players are trying to find a way to grind through tournaments, make some money to be able to afford to live and pay their teams, and increase ranking points which could help to seed in a future tournament.

At Lob and Smash, we also understand the irony of a website that covers tennis to write an article about how the tennis season is too long. Tournaments give us something to write about.

But one could argue a bit more time between the end of the tennis schedule and the beginning of the next year allows time to build more anticipation for future events. The sport risks fan burnout by never truly stopping playing. Plus, and most importantly, the long-term health of the players is challenged and a sport should never knowingly put its athletes in harm's way.

More tennis news and analysis: