Jeremy Alland, MD

Confession: my kids aren’t even old enough for travel tournaments yet, and I already feel the pressure. Every other parent seems to be signing up for one more clinic, one more league, one more weekend commitment, and some part of my brain keeps whispering “I hope we’re not falling behind.”

Falling behind who, exactly? I couldn’t tell you. But that feeling is everywhere in youth sports right now. More reps. More tournaments. More travel teams. Skip a weekend and somewhere, some other 10 year old is apparently out there getting better than yours.

Turns out, the best tennis player on the planet just quietly called that whole idea nonsense.

Carlos Alcaraz spent four months out this year with a wrist injury. Four months. No tour, no matches, no grinding. If you’d asked most of us before the US Open, we’d have guessed he’d come back a little rusty. Maybe find his rhythm by the second round.

Instead, he said this:

“It feels like I’ve been competing the whole time. I surprise myself the way I’m recovering after every match.”

Not “I’m back.” Not “I’m managing.” He came back recovering better than before he got hurt. Everywhere. Not just the wrist.

I expected the “I healed up strong” story. What I didn’t expect was Alcaraz, the reigning US Open champion, basically admitting the sport had stopped being fun.

“I just want to step on the court, have joy, have fun on the court. Sometimes playing such a long season, tournament after tournament, week after week, I don’t have fun on the court anymore.”

Let that sit for a second. The most talented player of his generation, at the top of his sport, was quietly running on empty. Not because he got hurt. Because he never stopped.

If it can happen to him, it is absolutely happening to your 12 year old.

Somewhere along the way we decided rest was for people who weren’t trying hard enough. Committed kids play every weekend. Committed kids don’t take summers off. If you love it, you show up, every time, no exceptions.

Alcaraz just told the whole tennis world that’s backwards. He’s now planning long breaks, one to two months, every single year. On purpose. Not because he’s hurt, but specifically so he doesn’t get hurt, and doesn’t burn out, and actually still likes tennis in five years.

Wild concept: resting on purpose, before your body forces you to, instead of waiting for the injury to make the decision for you.

Recovery isn’t just a physical thing, it’s a mental thing too, and most of us only think about one of those. The kids who play the longest aren’t the ones who never come off the field. They’re the ones whose parents let them rest on purpose, before the burnout or the stress fracture forces the issue.

If a 7 time Grand Slam champion needs real breaks to keep performing and keep loving the game, I promise you, so does your kid.

Go easy on the schedule this year. I’m working on it too.

Play the long game.

— Jeremy Alland, MD