'If you don't want to play, you don't play.' - Annacone's rebuttal to Sinner

Paul Annacone, the ex-coach of former world number one Roger Federer, has hit back at Italy’s Jannik Sinner for his comments about the tight scheduling. The tennis schedule has been a point of discussion this year, and a number of players have raised concerns about playing too much tennis.

World number one Sinner, who is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category along with the likes of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, was also vocal about the schedule earlier this year but was of the opinion that despite the tough schedule, players still have a choice.

“The schedule is quite long these years. But as players, we can still choose what to play and what not to play,” said Sinner. “Obviously we have some mandatory events, yes. As a player, you can still choose. It is a very busy schedule this year, there are a lot of tournaments. [But] you don’t have to play in a tournament. If you want, you can play. If not, you don’t play.”

Annacone, who is the former coach of Swiss legendary tennis star Federer, has spoken to the Tennis Channel, as quoted by Tennis 365, where he criticised Sinner for making such comments. The 61-year-old was of the opinion not every player could decide to skip events and only top players have such luxury.

“I loved hearing Jannik Sinner say, ‘Yeah, that’s a lot of tennis. There’s too many tournaments. But if you don’t want to play, don’t play,” he siad. “Obviously, it’s easier when you’re one of the best players in the world, but if you’re going to be competing in year-end championships, trying to meet your commitments in terms of teams, sponsorships, partners, etc., it’s very difficult to determine when not to play. So it’s not as simple as that to say if you don’t want to play, you don’t play. But the structure of the professional tour is really fractured, and always has been.”