The tennis tour’s grind of back-to-back matches has been making headlines for a while now. Since last year, top players like Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz have openly called out the exhausting schedule, highlighting how it chips away at consistency and performance. Their concerns struck a chord, prompting even more pros to speak up about the relentless toll. Among them, Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is adding his own perspective to the debate.
On Sunday in Montreal’s round of 16, the Spaniard came out swinging against Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev. Both served up a storm—Rublev hit 69% of his first serves and won 85% of those points, while the Spaniard landed 74% and won 74%. The opener stayed locked, no breaks, until the tiebreak, where the Spaniard surged ahead from 4-3, snagging two mini-breaks and clinching the set 7-6(3) with five straight points in just 56 action-packed minutes.
The second set saw Davidovich Fokina start to fade, fighting to hold serve while Rublev piled on the pressure with five break chances. Still, it went to another tiebreak. The Russian found a higher gear, claiming three mini-breaks to win it 7-6(2), pushing the match to a deciding set. After a fierce two-and-a-half-hour duel, the Spaniard’s body just couldn’t keep up in the third.
Today, as the tournament continues to pick up the pace, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina gave an update on his X profile. He wrote, “[Translated from Spanish] Everything’s good. But this calendar… oh my gosh . Now a few days off to .” This is his second heartbreak ahead of the US Open, as he just came off a loss in the finals at DC against Alex de Minaur. But the issue with the tour is not new. And it’s not the first time.
Todo bien. Pero este calendario… madre mía . Ahora unos dias off para
— Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (@alexdavidovich1) August 4, 2025
Most recently, he voiced his frustration about being assigned an “extremely early” 11 a.m. match at the Canadian Open, while other matches started later. He took to social media with a bilingual open letter to the ATP, highlighting the challenges of early starts—especially after late-night finishes, long travel, and having to stay an hour from the venue.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina emphasized that repeated scheduling frustrations show “players are not taken into consideration,” arguing that the ATP’s promises to improve conditions often fall flat. He pointed out, “This isn’t the first time it happens, and when you’re inside, you realize it’s not as great as it looks from the outside.”
His comments added to a growing chorus of players raising concerns about the relentless, demanding nature of the tour and the impact on their well-being. Something that even Novak Djokovic, who has been on the tour for nearly two decades, has echoed.
ATP legend calls out tennis struggles for players
Last month at Wimbledon, journalist Sasa Ozmo pinned Novak Djokovic down on a burning question: Why are so many players burned out or turning to antidepressants? Djokovic didn’t sugarcoat it. “Tennis has the longest season of all global sports . For most who play the full schedule, it’s from January 1 to late November. Other sports have more competitions now too, but tennis is individual—there are no substitutes,” he said.
Indeed, the 2024 ATP season ran from December 29, 2023, to November 24, 2024, spanning over 70 tournaments worldwide—nearly 11 months of continuous competition. Compared to team sports like basketball and football, which have benches, rotations, and substitutions, tennis offers little respite. Players who are sick, fatigued, or injured have no breaks. As Djokovic stated, “No ‘I don’t feel good today; can you sub in for me for five minutes so I can rest’…” It is just the individual, alone on the court, facing the relentless demands of the sport.
There’s a lot at stake as rankings, tournaments, sponsors, and careers hang in the balance. A missed event or a bad week can send everything tumbling downwards. Djokovic nailed it: “Here, every point matters, every day matters.”
The toughest pill to swallow? “If you want to reach the highest heights, you have to transform your entire life in service of tennis and sport. You lose yourself…” Now, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina’s recent struggles echo that all too well. But he’s not done fighting yet. With Cincinnati on the horizon, eyes are peeled. Will he bounce back with a roar? Drop your thoughts below!
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