Dan Evans has offered his controversial opinion on a big issue in tennis which players like Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek have complained about.
The Brit has never been shy of making his views public, as an open and honest individual.
And, on this particular occasion, he has sought to offer a more grounded outlook on a problem that is very serious within the sport.
After all, these players are worked to death, forced to play tournament after tournament and only really handed a small end-of-season break before it starts all over again.
Evans, however, is not so sympathetic to those who might argue that this schedule is unfair though.
Dan Evans gives his thoughts on the busy tennis schedule
Speaking to BBC Sport, his claims came from the viewpoint of someone seeking to speak on behalf of the everyday man who looks to these well-paid superstars with envy.
Evans stated: ‘I think, first and foremost, we’re in a fortunate position.
‘I think, you know, when I hear about the schedule, these guys don’t have to play every week. You are allowed to not play.
‘The reason they play is so they pick up their bonus pool at the end of the year. It’s more about, you know… we’ve got to be careful moaning about how we have a lot of work, which is good. There’s other people in the world who are struggling for work and I think we have to be careful, you know, harping on about, you know, the tough schedule.
‘We are allowed to take weeks off, we are independent contractors. We can take the week off. And so that’s where I stand on that.’
Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek’s complaints about the tennis schedule
Many players have complained about the tennis schedule, as an issue that has been under fire for years.
And yet, nothing changes. If anything, it only seems to be expanding, with different corners of the globe seeking to dip their hand in the sport. Events like the Six King’s Slam, whilst highly lucrative, only add to the calendar’s congestion.
Yet it’s players like Carlos Alcaraz, who took part in this event, who do complain.
He raised his concerns at the back end of last year, stating: ‘It has been a tough season, I have played fewer tournaments than other players, but many matches. I have experienced new things like being injured and coming back to the circuit afterwards.
‘The seasons become long physically and mentally, and these tournaments help me feel like myself on the court again. There are few commitments left until the end of the year, but I am very eager to gradually feel better.
‘In a way, they are killing us.’
Iga Swiatek echoed that complaint earlier this year: ‘We need to switch continents, we need to switch surfaces, we need to switch the balls. Yeah, it’s not easy.
‘There are people saying that, ‘Oh, I don’t have to play so many tournaments, but…the fact is that we have so many mandatory tournaments that we literally need to show up and we don’t have time to work on stuff or live peacefully, because from one tournament we’re going straight to another,” she said in New York.
‘We don’t even have time until the end of the year, because literally the first tournament starts on 29th of December. So yeah, the season is, for sure, too long.’
It is complaints such as these which led to organisations like the PTPA being formed, but it seems like little is set to change in the immediate future.
