Stefanos Tsitsipas says two-week ATP Masters 1000 occasions end in a drop in high quality as gamers don’t get sufficient break day to get well and are compelled into intense coaching to remain in form over a protracted season.
5 Masters tournaments presently stretch over two weeks, however earlier this 12 months, the ATP stated seven occasions could be held over 12 days every beginning in 2025.
That call didn’t go over effectively with gamers, with Tsitsipas calling it a “backwards transfer” that’s “fixing what wasn’t damaged.”
“The 2-week Masters 1000s have became a drag,” Tsitsipas wrote on X. “The standard has positively dropped. Gamers do not get the restoration or coaching time they want, with fixed matches and no house for the extraordinary work off the court docket.”
The 2-week Masters 1000s have became a drag. The standard has positively dropped. Gamers do not get the restoration or coaching time they want, with fixed matches and no house for the extraordinary work off the court docket.
It is ironic that the @atptour dedicated to this format… https://t.co/DrvgODppzJ
— Stefanos Tsitsipas (@steftsitsipas) November 7, 2024
Tsitsipas was responding on social media to former participant Andy Roddick, who stated on his podcast that two-week Masters occasions are “so silly” as extra gamers appear to get injured when a weeklong occasion would have allowed them to construct their our bodies up throughout off-weeks.
Reuters has contacted the ATP for remark.
Tsitsipas just isn’t the primary lively participant to criticize the ATP, with four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz saying the tight tennis calendar makes it tough to remain motivated all year long and will increase the danger of accidents.
“It’s tough. Typically I did not really feel motivated in any respect,” Alcaraz stated. “The calendar’s so tight. A number of tournaments … not as [many] days off as I need.”
Alexander Zverev stated earlier this 12 months that the two-week Masters occasions have been nice for gamers ranked between 50 and 100 on this planet as a result of they get an opportunity to play in a main-draw occasion, however the schedule was not very best for top-10 gamers.
“You do get advised you have got a day in between [matches], you do not have to play day by day. On the finish of the day, that is not resting,” Zverev stated earlier than the Rome Masters, which was a two-week occasion. “Resting is whenever you’re spending time at residence, whenever you’re sleeping in your personal mattress, possibly with your loved ones, possibly along with your canine, possibly along with your children. … That is what resting is.
“Should you’re at a unique place, that is not resting. Should you’re going deep in occasions … if you happen to’re making an attempt to make semifinals or finals of each occasion, you are simply away rather a lot longer and you need to work much more. It is so simple as that.”
