The president of the ATP seems like one of the more unforgiving jobs that tennis has to offer, and thus far, Andrea Gaudenzi seems to be failing to make his mark.
After all, whilst behind-the-scenes he’s likely doing great work, the biggest initiative of his reign so far, as he enters his second term in charge, has been one of the sport’s more polarising changes in recent years.
In an era when player welfare and a reduced schedule are two of the hottest topics amongst both players and fans, the Italian made the bold decision to actually elongate some events, focusing on certain Masters 1000 tournaments.
His thought process was that it would afford players time in between competitions to rest for their matches, when in reality their main hope was to be afforded a larger off-season to relax from the rigours of the tour.
This initiative has been widely criticised, with Gaudenzi’s comments defending it now coming under scrutiny.
12-day Masters 1000 event criticised again
Having spoken at a press conference during last week’s ATP Finals, The Tennis Podcast sought to break down his claims about the 12-day Masters 1000 events.
David Law offered the context: “His point seems to be you can’t just give up on something just because people aren’t liking it at the moment. You know you don’t do that in any business. You have to give it some years to try and, you know, Matt Futterman mentioned a sort of date of 2030 and sort of five years’ time when maybe it could be changed.
“But I’m looking and listening to people. I don’t know. Maybe Felix Auger-Aliassime is the only person I’ve heard in any public utterance say that he’s having a great time at all these events.
“He said it the other day, in his post-match press conference.”
Catherine Whitaker then interjected, hinting at a lack of self-awareness from the Canadian: “I wasn’t sure about those comments from Auger-Aliassime? No, I mean, pleased to hear that he’s having a great time, but there seems to be a bit of an empathy failure there from him.”
Law then continued, adding his opinion on the changes: “Yeah, I mean, I think if you got into the detail of actually, well, how do you feel when you’re at these two-week tournaments? I’d love to know what if you actually drilled into the detail, maybe he just doesn’t like to hear people complaining, right? Okay.
“But, I mean, I’d like to know his opinion on the actual detail, because I do not know of a player. I have not heard one player, even with the extra money, say that they’re really liking this new system.
“No. I don’t know anybody who likes them. Tim Henman was on the telly today saying that there’s too much irrelevant tennis, and you know, I realise they’re not irrelevant events, but you’ve got day upon day also and you’ve got so many events and I just, I sense that Gaudenzi probably knows that ultimately they will probably have to make some changes because people aren’t gonna stop complaining.
“People aren’t just complaining, gonna just get used to it and start liking it, I don’t think. They’re horrible, they’re awful, these things.”
What have players said about the 12-day Masters 1000 events?
It was 2024 when the ATP announced their plans to extend some Masters 1000 events, and even then, the decision was questioned.
After all, it seemed like an odd reaction to the increasing calls for more time off for the players.
Naturally, since the change has come into effect, it has hardly inspired support from the players either, with Sinner giving his opinion on the 12-day Masters during the Canadian Open and Cincinnati swing. The Italian opted not to play in the former and retired in the final of the latter.
Unsurprisingly, Novak Djokovic has been one of the 12-day Masters’ biggest critics, but claimed that a lack of player unity would always stop them from successfully halting such negative alterations.
He claimed earlier this year: “Well, I was personally against the extension of the days of duration of the Masters 1000 events, right? I felt from the very beginning I was against it.
“Actually, even when I was in the council, I think I was at the time president of the council, so I was not supportive of that. I think for the players it’s not good.”
The Serbian concluded by admitting: “In the end, as a player and someone who has been playing on the highest level for more than 20 years, I can say that the players are not united enough.”
