Jannik Sinner disagrees with Jack Draper and Carlos Alcaraz over scheduling complaints

British number one Draper is among the players to voice their concerns over the tennis calendar, while Alcaraz has also been critical

Jannik Sinner believes players should take responsibility for their own schedules following criticism of the tennis calendar from Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper.

The demands of the long season have become an increasing bone of contention, and British number one Draper labelled the calendar "mental" after travelling from the US Open to Manchester for the Davis Cup. He questioned whether players of his generation will be able to achieve the longevity of their predecessors, while Alcaraz said of the governing bodies: "Probably they are going to kill us in some way."

But world number one Sinner highlighted that, apart from the mandatory tournaments - which include eight Masters 1000 events and four ATP 500 tournaments per year - players can pick their own schedules.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the China Open, the Italian said: "The schedule is quite long, obviously. But we players, we can still choose what to play and what not to play. 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. You don't have to play a tournament.

"If you want, you can play. If not, you don't play. For example, last year and also this year, I didn't play some tournaments because I wanted to practise. There are some choices behind this."

The US Open champion has played 18 tournaments in 12 months, which is the same number as Novak Djokovic and one more than Alcaraz but five fewer than world number two Alexander Zverev. Draper, who has struggled with injury in his fledgling career so far, has also managed 23 tournaments, while the busiest man in the top 100, Argentina's Federico Coria, has crammed in 33.

Meanwhile, Draper is looking to end the year on a high after breaking into the world's top 20.

He said: "To be in my position now where I'm 20 in the world and all that progress I've made in all situations in my tennis, my mind, my body, the way I feel, I'm extremely proud of the work I've done in the last year, but I've still got a very long way to go and I've got a lot to improve and a lot to learn and work on.

"I want to get to the position where I'm consistently winning and playing at a high level week in, week out. I want to have a good Asia swing and a good indoor season. The work's not done yet. I think this period for me, I've played a lot of tennis and I've travelled a lot, it's about looking after my body, making sure I don't break down.

"I want to keep my motivation strong so that I can finish the year hopefully in a really strong way and then obviously have a prolonged pre-season and work really hard on my body and improve ready for next year."