Medvedev caused a stir during his first round-robin match of the tournament. The world No. 4 imploded when he went a break down in the second set, throwing his racket and breaking a microphone. He received a point penalty and later threatened to retire.
After the match, the former champion said he was “100 per cent” hoping for the year to be over. Medvedev will still try to make it out of the group stage into the semi-final but he said he was “tired to fight it”.
Medvedev also pointed out that the only time he won the year-end championships was in 2020 when the season was suspended for Covid and only resumed in August. Alcaraz was asked about his rival’s comments after losing his own opening match on Monday.
Asked whether he felt the same, the Spaniard had a clear answer. “I dare to say that every player are tired mentally. If someone says that he is fresh, he is lying,” he smiled.
Alcaraz was suffering from an illness during his defeat to Casper Ruud on Monday. But he also confessed that he was mentally fatigued after a demanding season.
He continued: “Some players deal with it better than others. I’m tired. I’m tired mentally.
“Obviously a lot of matches, really tight schedule, really demanding year with not too many days off, not too many period of you could rest, you could practice at home.
“It’s kind of you finish one week or you finish a swing, you only have two or three days off and then you have to go to other tournaments to other part of the world.
“Since the beginning of the year you’re accumulating hours, days. You come into this part of year tired. As I said many, many times, I think this year I’m much better than last year, but I have to find the way to perform and deliver a good tennis being tired mentally.”
It’s not the first time Alcaraz has voiced concerns about the length of the tennis season.
During the Laver Cup in September, he said: “I’m the kind of player who think 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.
“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 a lot of things.”
But both Alcaraz and Medvedev will need to keep playing for the rest of the week. Medvedev will be back in action against Alex De Minaur on Tuesday while Alcaraz plays his second group stage match on Wednesday.
The Spaniard will also represent his country at next week’s Davis Cup Finals before he can head into the off-season.
