In the midst of the tennis off-season, the debate continues over whether it’s really long enough…
Flavio Cobolli and Jaume Munar played the final official match of the 2025 season, at the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna, on November 23.
The 2026 season is scheduled to begin just 40 days later, at the United Cup on January 2, 2026.
A 40-day off-season isn’t long at all, especially considering some players are busy with exhibitions over the winter.
What do you really think about tennis exhibitions?
As the debate rages on, former Wimbledon semifinalist John Isner has shared his thoughts on the off-season.
John Isner says the off-season is ‘so overrated’
During the latest episode of ‘Nothing Major‘, Isner commented on the tennis off-season.
“This might be a controversial take, but the off-season is so overrated,” said Isner.
“Especially once you’ve sort of established yourself, when you get to your late 20s, you’re not re-inventing the wheel, you just need to maintain and keep yourself healthy.
“Obviously, be really professional, but you don’t need to absolutely kill yourself during the course of three weeks. Work hard, sleep well, eat well, and just get ready for the next year.
“If you’re 20 and you’re new on tour, yes, you need to get your body stronger. At the beginning of your career, the off-season is very important to get that base, but once you’ve established yourself, it’s about maintaining and keeping things smooth, taking care of yourself.
“Treatment becomes just as important as the gym work.”
Isner’s co-hosts Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson were also keen to weigh in on the debate.
“Is there even an off-season in tennis anymore?” asked Querrey.
“I’m convinced there’s just not even an off-season.
“There’s exhibitions going on right now, there’s UTS [Ultimate Tennis Showdown], Davis Cup was a week ago, United Cup probably starts December 30.
“Why do we even say there is an off-season in tennis? Guy’s go on vacation for a week, and they just start practising again.”
Johnson agreed with Querrey and compared tennis to golf.
“It’s one of those things, you have to say it, every other sport has an off-season, so you say it’s the off-season,” said Johnson.
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“I would equate it to golf, the golf season has been over for six weeks, but they’re still playing events, there’s still stuff going on.
“There’s really not an off-season in golf as well, you can choose to take a longer one… But in the tennis world, no, there’s not really an off-season, there’s a winter break, for us here in the [United] States, you get a few weeks off and then go back to training.”
Johnson did, however, admit that players are allowed to take more time off.
“Everybody has their own method on how much time they want to take off, what they want to do in their three or four weeks to get better, to get healthy,” he said.
“But there’s really no off-season, but guys can choose to play tournaments, you can take mini breaks throughout the year, you can take three, four weeks off at a time, it just depends on how you do your schedules.”
He also took a moment to praise players for competing in exhibitions, despite overwhelming fan criticism.
“There will be guys who play 35 weeks a year, plus exhibitions,” said Johnson.
“But there’s really no off-season; it’s good for the guys, like Carlos [Alcaraz] and these guys who have such a limited schedule compared to most because they win everything, to do these exhibitions, because I think it does grow the game immensely.
“When you see him and these guys at events, trying to grow the game in certain areas.”
As Johnson mentioned, world number one Carlos Alcaraz has played several exhibitions this off-season.
Earlier this month, Alcaraz explained why he plays exhibitions, despite complaining about the tennis schedule.
Carlos Alcaraz claims exhibitions are less physically and mentally demanding than tournaments
The Spaniard tried to highlight the differences between participating in exhibition events and ATP tournaments.
“It’s normal for people to think this way and not understand why we complain about the schedule when we then schedule exhibitions,” said Alcaraz.
“For me, the biggest difference is that in a tournament you have to maintain concentration, and it is demanding both physically and mentally.
“An exhibition is only one day. You just have to keep your focus, warm up, and train a little and only for one game.”
Alcaraz has already played Frances Tiafoe and Joao Fonseca in exhibition matches this year.
He’ll play another high-profile exhibition at the start of 2026 against his biggest rival, Jannik Sinner, in South Korea.
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