The most successful players in the history of the sport knew how to say no to exhibitions in order to prioritise rest and focus on winning Grand Slams, Mark Philippoussis recalls. The Australian adds his voice to the endless debate around the demands of the circuit and the complaints of today’s players.
“You see Federer, Nadal, Djokovic say no because they have a bigger vision, and that was the Grand Slams. So at some stage you get there and say: I’m gonna say no to the six-figure guarantee because this is my goal,” the Australian told CLAY.
The finalist at the 1998 US Open and 2003 Wimbledon is blunt and has little sympathy for the complaints of the current generation: “No one has a gun to your head getting you to play all these weeks. You can always say no.”
Hearing Carlos Alcaraz complain about the demands of the tour while sitting in the press room of an exhibition is, at the very least, contradictory.
The Spaniard is one of the loudest voices on the circuit when it comes to criticising how the year is structured. The last time he did so was at the Laver Cup. “I think they are adding more important tournaments. In some ways they are forcing us to play. So it’s impossible, and we are seeing a lot of players getting injured, a lot of players getting tired. If they don’t do something about it, we are going to see this even more in the future,” said the Australian Open champion.
“Tennis, we all know there’s no offseason, and it’s a very difficult thing to balance the calendar. You gotta see what’s best for you. But at the same time, there’s a lot of money involved,” Philippoussis said.
Players keep asking for more rest, yet it is increasingly common to see them signing up for exhibition events. Next week Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Miñaur and Learner Tien (replacing an injured Jannik Sinner) will compete at the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition running over three days from October 21 to 24 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Just for taking part in 2025, players received 1.5 million dollars. Sinner, that edition’s champion, took home a total of six million dollars.
“The weeks where they can have off, that’s normally where they’re getting a lot of money for exhibitions. So they want the weeks off, yet they’re getting a lot of money to play those tournaments, so they’re not saying no. It’s up to them,” added the former world number 8 in conversation with CLAY.
