"It gives me a nice little fine-tuning moment": Tennis stars defends strategy to play in exhibition events in off-season

A host of stars revealed their reasons for playing the Ultimate Tennis Showdown event. In the recent past, a number of current players, including women’s world number two Poland’s Iga Swiatek and men’s world number three Carlos Alcaraz, have complained about a tough schedule.

Recently, former world number one Billie Jean King criticised players for complaining about busy tennis schedules but still taking time to play in exhibition events such as the Ultimate Tennis Showdown. “They get a month off and they go play exhibitions,” she said back then while speaking to BBC Sport. “I go really? You guys said you needed the rest. Don't tell me you think the season is too long. I know if there's enough money you go and you play. It's a really tough argument for me to listen to the players.”

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In a report published by the Daily Express, a host of tennis stars explained their reasons for participating in the event. Some claimed that the primary reason remains monetary benefit, whereas others claimed that such events give players a perfect opportunity to prepare for the tough season ahead.

“Here, the intensity is really high, and you play really seriously,” said the world number eight, Andrey Rublev. “In a normal endurance recovery that I’m doing when I’m in pre-season, there is no fire because you just do a workout and that’s it. Here you do an endurance workout and you are full of emotions, you are full of adrenaline because you are competing and it’s even tougher than a normal endurance workout so it gives you a little preparation and improvement.”

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“It gives me a nice little fine-tuning moment in the middle of the pre-season,” said the reigning world number nine Australia’s Alex de Minaur. “Even though I am playing these matches, there’s still a lot of the work that goes on behind the scenes, a lot of hours spent in the gym and on the practice court. Because ultimately this is still our pre-season and we want to make sure the body is in the right stage come the start of the season.”

“It helps make a living. It’s honestly that simple,” said De Minaur’s fellow countryman Kokkinakis. “This is one of the perks of playing for sure. But there’s a lot more to it than just the financial side here. It’s very exciting, it’s very fun, the crowd gets into it. These events are great and they do set you up for the Grand Slams and things like that. There’s definitely a lot of things that you can take from UTS to the tour.”