Carlos Alcaraz has led the chorus of criticism directed at the packed tennis schedule in recent days and now former world No 1 Andy Roddick has served up a radical threat that could shake tennis chiefs to change.

Even though he opted to play in the Laver Cup and collect big appearance money to compete in Berling last weekend, Alcaraz suggested the tennis calendar needs to be altered due to the pressure on players to perform week after week.

“During the next few years, it’s going to be even more mandatory tournaments. Probably they are going to kill us in some way,” said the French Open and Wimbledon champion.

“Right now there are a lot of injured (players), because of the balls, because of the calendar, a lot of things. Probably at some point, a lot of players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of that.”

Mandatory events are the tournaments players are expected to play in as part of their agreement with the ATP Tour, yet world No 1 Jannik Sinner has also suggested players need to take control of their own destiny.

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 in some tournaments because I wanted to practise. There are some choices behind this.”

The schedule debate as been ongoing in tennis for many years and top players lose some of their credibility on the issue when they take the big money offers to play at events like the Laver Cup or the mega money event in Saudi Arabia next month that will feature Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

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Yet if players want to take a stand against the ATP Tour, they can do so by refusing to take part in their end-of-season Finals, according to 2003 US Open champion Roddick.

“Let’s be done by November 1st,” said Roddick, as he advocated a swift end to the tennis season in October on his latest Served podcast.

“The entire month of November should be 250s (ATP 250 events) and the top players would not have to play in them.

“So play your World Tour Finals and wrap it up. Let them rest of the season and not have them running on fumes. The players that have played the most have to recover.

“When Carlos is saying it and he never says anything negative about anything says it’s too much. And they are like mandatory events. Carlos… just stop playing the mandatory events. I bet they are not going to throw you off tour. Call their bluff.”

He then added a stinger to his argument that he believes would change the dynamics around the scheduling debate, as he suggested players could boycott the ATP Finals, an event formerly known as the World Tour Finals when Roddick was playing.

“World Tour Finals are responsible for a very, very, very significant part of their (ATP Tour revenue,” he added. “It’s not like you are boycotting the US Open and someone isn’t getting their $100,000 first round losers paycheck.

“Are they going to replace you at the World Tour Finals with someone who didn’t qualify? That sounds like a fun marketing campaign!

“Announce at the beginning of the year that we are not playing it and we will play it next year if you shorten it.”

The debate over the tennis schedule is now in full swing once again and if the game’s top players combine to object to the current set-up, it would inevitably force the ATP Tour to make changes.