Alcaraz and an aspect to emulate from Federer: "He was a master at that"

Carlos Navarro | 1 Apr 2026 | 10.18

Rusedski was satisfied criticizing Alcaraz. Source: Getty

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Carlos Alcaraz faces the upcoming clay court tour with numerous challenges to overcome. An exciting horizon lies ahead for the Spanish player, with the possibility of conquering major tournaments and arriving superbly prepared for Roland Garros 2026, the major event marked on the Murcian's calendar. However, to achieve this, he must optimize his schedule, distributing loads and efforts in the best possible way... or the risks will be high.

The optimization of the schedule remains a recurring topic of discussion when analyzing the figure of El Palmar native. Even the magnificent end of 2025 did not remove this issue from the debate table; on the contrary, it gained more importance following his appearances at Indian Wells and Miami, where he seemed somewhat tired, even showing signs of wanting to conclude his American adventure and go home during certain stages of his match against Sebastian Korda.

This has prompted reactions from analysts and experts like Greg Rusedski, who, while not worried about the health and future of the Spanish player, still see significant room for improvement in certain areas. In his podcast, the Brit was straightforward in his words: "Alcaraz has been playing too much tennis lately. If you look at the end of 2025, he didn't have a proper preseason. He played many exhibitions in the United States, then went to Korea before the Australian Open, and from there to Doha. He has been playing non-stop since the end of the year, being the number one, without taking his foot off the accelerator. When you play that much tennis, and I hate to say this, you can get somewhat stuck, a bit bored: it's hard to be out there every week", remarked the British expert, whose solution to address this problem is to emulate the Swiss maestro.

Rusedski suggests Alcaraz emulate Roger Federer in managing his schedule to arrive fresher at key moments of the year

Greg brought up the name of Roger Federer: for him, Federer is the role model, the one to follow, in order to provide Alcaraz with more tranquility and respite in his roadmap not just in the short term but also in the medium and long term. "In that regard, Federer was a master. That's why he had such a long career and so much dominance. He only played 12 events, winning like 7 of them, which kept him fresh for each tournament he competed in", noted Rusedski before pointing to exhibitions as the cause of that wear and accumulated fatigue.

"To me, Alcaraz has played too many exhibitions. I know they will tell me it's in December and not in February, but you need periods to recharge, and that's tricky no matter how good you are. If your game drops 2% or 3%, players like Fils, although he beat him easily in Doha, can join the pack. You have Medvedev, who defeated him in Indian Wells, and the recent Korda, who played fantastically, but against whom Carlos wasn't sharp in crucial moments". Greg, however, stated that he is not worried about Carlos' immediate future: he trusts that he will bounce back from Miami and give his all in the clay court tour, where a possible Calendar Slam is at stake, an objective that, according to the Brit, could be a priority for Alcaraz. Do you agree with him? Is there indeed a small problem? Clay will be the judge and witness of how these words age.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz y un aspecto a emular de Federer: "En eso era un maestro"