Taylor Fritz made feelings clear on Carlos Alcaraz banking millions after his complaints

Taylor Fritz will be looking to end Carlos Alcaraz's hot run of form in the Wimbledon semi-final, but the American has previously stuck up for the Spaniard. Fritz, 27, faces the defending champion on Centre Court on Friday at 1.30pm.

The fifth seed at SW19 will be a heavy underdog against Alcaraz, who reached the last four bycomfortably dispatching Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. But while the San Diego star will be looking to knock Alcaraz off the court, he has previously played defender to the Spaniard. Last year, Alcaraz was heavily criticised for his decision to play in various off-calendar exhibition clashes, while also complaining about the long and gruelling tennis campaign. The two-time Wimbledon champion had previously said there were too many events in the tennis calendar, while playing in lucrative competitions such as the 2024 Netflix Slam against Rafael Nadal and the Six King's Slam in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Criticising the length of the tennis campaign in 2024, Alcaraz said to Sky Sports Tennis: "The tennis schedule is so, so tight, we're travelling from tournament to tournament with just one or two days before the tournament begins, so it is difficult, but we have to get used to it."

But as the criticism against Alcaraz began to grow, Fritz stuck up for the 22-year-old, saying the intensity of exhibition matches cannot be compared to ATP tour events. Last September, Fritz said: "I agree that it's tough for the tour to shorten the schedule when players will just play Exos (exhbitions) to fill the time.

"I've seen a lot of people criticising some of the players asking for a shorter season because they go and play Exos. I don't understand that part of the argument, because playing an exo vs a tour event aren't comparable to each other in terms of burn out - physically and especially mentally.

"A tour event can be 5+ days of playing all out and mentally being dialed in on all things on and off court, versus an exo you show up, have some fun and entertain for a match or two. You don't have to all out push your body and there is absolutely 0 mental fatigue or stress.

"In a lot of ways, an exo is a lot like a rest week and shouldn't be compared 1:1 with a tour event. I don't expect non players to fully comprehend what I mean by this, because it's tough to judge the mental and physical fatigue that playing tour weeks entails, if you are not a part of it. I would fully expect players to understand what I mean by this."

Alcaraz finished as runner-up to Jannik Sinner in the exhibition tournament in Riyadh. Before a ball was even served, Alcaraz was guaranteed £1.1m ($1.5m) from the competition in Saudi Arabia. Sinner scooped up a cheque for £4.42m ($6m) for winning the event.

The reigning Wimbledon champion also banked a handsome amount of money when he headed across the pond to play in one-off events in New York and Charlotte. One of those saw him overcome Ben Shelton at Madison Square Garden in New York for the Garden Cup. Speaking on the Served podcast with Andy Roddick, Jon Wertheim said: "I was told that Carlos will make more money this week than he will from any others, he made more money this week between these exhos than he did for winning Wimbledon."

Alcaraz and Fritz have only faced each other on two occasions in their career, a 2023 meeting at the Miami Open, which Alcaraz won 6-4, 6-3 and a meeting in the 2024 Laver Cup, which the Spaniard also won 6-2, 7-5.