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Andy Roddick has declared he does not want to hear Carlos Alcaraz complain about the schedule after the Spaniard played two exhibitions during the off-season.

Alcaraz is one of the most high-profile and outspoken critics of the length of the tennis season, which has been a major talking point this year.

The four-time Grand Slam champion has addressed the issue multiple times in recent months and joked that the ATP “are going to kill” players.

“I’m the kind of player who thinks there is a lot of tournaments during the year, mandatory tournaments and probably during the next few years gonna be even more tournaments, more mandatory tournaments,” the 21-year-old Spaniard said.

“So, I mean, probably they are going to kill us in some way.

Right now they are showing up a lot of injuries because of the ball, because of the calendar, because of a lot of things.”

World No 2 Alexander Zverev agrees with Alcaraz, saying: “most sports have four months off, sometimes even six.

Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary.”

Earlier this week, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi hit back at players who criticise the calendar and also play exhibition events.

“Players choose to play many exhibitions outside the circuit. We don’t see that in other sports.

The question is whether you want to invest in the circuit or outside the circuit,” the Italian said.

“Reduce the season? Yes, but it will then be necessary to reduce the number of ATP 250 tournaments.

Afterwards, players can also decide to do fewer exhibitions and spend more time at home to rest.”

Alcaraz amassed a 54-13 record in 2024 and ended his season at the Davis Cup Finals in late November.

The world No 3 flew to the United States to play exhibition matches in New York and Charlotte on December 4 and 6.

He featured in two other exhibitions events this year: the Netflix Slam in March and the Laver Cup in September.

Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Roddick argued Alcaraz should not bemoan the fact his off-season was too short when the 2025 campaign begins.

“I get the criticism of, ‘don’t complain [about the schedule] and then go play exhibitions.’

I’m not going to tell you that’s wrong because I think it too,” the former world No 1 and 2003 US Open winner said.

“An example that pops into my mind and I don’t want to fire strays at this guy because I love him.

“I think he’s phenomenal, I think he’s a responsible citizen, but like Casper [Ruud] went and did that week in South America with Rafa [Nadal] and got off to a slow start [the following season].

“Carlos, let’s say it how it is. He finished on December 6 [after the exhibitions].

He had a vacation in the Caribbean with some buddies for a week before he played these exhibitions.

He’d already done his relaxation, got in some reps, and obviously got paid a lot of money.

“What other time would we tell somebody not to do their job for a massive paycheck? We’re adults; it’s a business.

“What I don’t accept is, ‘Hey, I didn’t have a long enough off-season.’ I don’t want to hear about it in Australia if he’s not feeling great.

That’s it. I don’t want to hear about it.”

In September, Alcaraz addressed the notion that he cannot complain about the schedule given his exhibition choices.

“I’ve seen a lot of people talk about my exhibitions this year and complain about the schedule, at the same time putting a lot of exhibition.

But I want to say there is different things we all have to separate the exhibitions and the calendar,” Alcaraz said.

“Yeah, as I said, it’s about different feelings in every person.

So I’m talking about myself, that the schedule it’s been so tight since the first week of January till the last week of November.

We have to talk about it ourselves and we have to do something about it.”