Tennis is a sport that is definitely on the rise, but that does not make every decision it makes the right one.
After all, in an effort to continue this growth, some questionable changes have been made to the schedule.
Already, players and fans alike have complained about the length of the calendar, and what it demands both physically and mentally from the sport’s biggest stars.
These frustrations have seemingly had little impact on the decision-makers though, whose recent introduction of two-week Masters 1000 events has done little to dampen these widespread issues.
Tennis told to scrap two-week Masters 1000 events
Now, speaking on Tennis Channel, both CoCo Vandeweghe and Sam Querrey have joined in explaining why a reversion must be made in this area.
The former would begin, responding when asked if any of the Masters 1000 events should be two weeks long: “It should only be the two of Indian Wells and Miami. I think that should be the only two.”
She conceded that, if there had to be another, perhaps Asia at the end of the year would be justifiable, adding: “It’s too much tennis going into a Grand Slam. You’re gonna have a lot of pullouts. And plus, like we said, we’re not even seeing the seeds until Thursday at this point, and with the byes, I don’t like it at all.”
Is some of the tennis schedule irrelevant?
Unsurprisingly, Querrey agreed, echoing her sentiment: “And it’s not so much that the players are playing more matches. It’s just the monotony of going to the site and practising and hanging out there, and all of a sudden you’re there for 12 days, and it’s draining and then you go to Rome and you’re there for 12 days, and you’re trying to gear up for Roland Garros, and you feel like you’ve had a month of these extended Masters series that just suck the energy out of you.
“So, I mean, ideally, I would love zero.”
Vandeweghe argued that the monotony of these events makes it feel like ‘Groundhog Day’, and when asked if there might be a change, Querrey was hopeful: “I think ultimately there’s gonna be enough frustration with players and fans that general pressure from those two groups will force the tournaments to change.
“Maybe now, maybe in 50 years. Not 50…. I do hope that within the next three to five years, there is a change.”
Vandeweghe concluded by warning that, if a change was not made, it could damage the sport: “God, I hope so, too. It would be sad to see our sport of tennis be eviscerated by these two-week events.
“[When] we show matches that there’s two people in the stands because they can wait till middle week to watch a seed. I think it kills the sport a bit.”
Carlos Alcaraz’s complaint about two-week Masters 1000 events
If Carlos Alcaraz is forced to complain about an initiative within tennis, you know it must be something egregious.
After all, the Spaniard is one of the happiest and most upbeat players on tour, seldom embroiling himself in controversy.
If you were in charge of tennis, what is the first rule you would change?
And yet, given the fact that Alcaraz has already discussed his issues with the tennis schedule, these two-week Masters 1000 events hardly ease his frustration.
As such, when speaking about this initiative earlier this month in Barcelona, he admitted: “I’ll always be a defender of one-week tournaments. If they all were like that, we’d have a week off after Madrid and another after Rome. They’re better for the show, we saw it in Monte Carlo.”
Alexander Zverev has also strongly disagreed with the two-week Masters, yet his complaints fall on deaf ears, along with the rest of his peers’.
