The debate surrounding the schedule continues to rumble on as several high-profile stars complain about the amount of tennis they are expected to play.
Jack Draper recently complained about the tennis schedule after missing three months of the season after the US Open.
Taylor Fritz backed up Draper’s complaints and the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have also slammed the amount of tournaments on the ATP Tour.
Tim Henman has suggested the change to the schedule he would make to the schedule which would take inspiration from Formula One.
Tim Henman’s idea to change the ATP Tour schedule
Henman believes that the amount of tennis is not the only problem on the tour, it’s also the amount of tournaments that take place concurrently.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the former British pro revealed: “For me, there’s too much irrelevant tennis at times in the calendar. When they talk about February, historically on the ATP Tour there’s been 12 tournaments in four weeks. What does that mean when you’ve got Sinner playing here, and Alcaraz there?”
He believes that the amount of tennis can be confusing to fans, as well as tiring from the stars on the court.
“It doesn’t provide a clear narrative for the fan. For me, the idea at the highest level of certain weeks where there isn’t tennis. It’s a good thing for everybody. It gives the players an opportunity to rest, it gives the fans the chance to build the excitement about the next tournament on the calendar.”
Henman believes tennis should take inspiration from Formula One, which runs sporadically throughout the year with frequent breaks.
“I’m not a massive F1 fan, but it’s pretty easy to follow. Every couple of weeks there’s a race and there’s 20 something races and you add up those points, but you’ve got gaps in between.
“You’ve got great assets in this sport, the four Grand Slams, the Masters events, they are good concepts to get the best players. I don’t agree with the 12 days. I think they should be shorter and when you package that together it’s much easier for the players to compete at the highest level, but rest and recover.
“Then you can build that product. If I could change one thing, it would be to organise the calendar. It’s a discussion that’s been around for 30 years, but it is hard to change.”
The ATP Tour has recently announced an expansion with the arrival of a new Masters tournament in Saudi Arabia.
ATP president reveals the rule he wants to bring to tennis
ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi is aware of the hectic scheduling issues and he’s revealed what he’s trying to change to refine the schedule.
In an interview with Sky Sports’ Jonathan Overend, he said: “It’s a very challenging problem to find a solution for all the parties coming together.
“I have sympathy for them, saying why don’t you get together, design a better calendar, and all come together. I’m trying; that’s been the core of my one vision plan, which is basically to unite the four Grand Slams, the ATP, the WTA, and the ITF.”
Currently, each entity has its own set of rules and governors, which makes it difficult to implement change in the sport.
“I think we need one governor and one commercial entity to market the sport. I believe in it. I don’t think it’s going to be easy. We’ve done great progress. We’re progressing well with WTA ventures.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I wake up every morning trying to achieve it. It’s in everyone’s interest to grow the sport. If you look at every metric, every analysis, if tennis were together, you would drive value up.”
The ATP and WTA run simultaneously throughout the year, often sharing a number of Masters tournaments.
