Andy Murray has painted a depressing – if realistic – picture of current tennis, with the Scot decidedly down on the state of the game.
As far as the 36-year-old is concerned, it’s every man for himself in an individual sport governed by a hodge-podge of official bodies, each laying down a confusing mix of rules and regulations.
Murray will headline at this week’s ATP 500 tournament in Dubai, with Daniil Medvedev as top seed and Andrey Rublev second.
The event in the emirate once enjoyed elite status as an informal must-play, with past champions including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Murray himself in 2017.
The 36-year-old Murray, was not shy about passing an opinion prior to is Monday start against wild card Denis Shapovalov.
“Everyone looks out for their own interests and that is not always the best for the sport,” the No. 67 told local Gulf media..
“Everyone is a little at odds with each other and it would be a lot easier if everyone collaborated for the common good.”
The three-time Grand Slam winner has ideas about re-writing the tournament calendar and adding Masters 1000 events in tennis-starved South America, the Middle East and possibly Saudi, which is starting to throw money at the sport much in the manner it barged into pro golf.
He remains in the dark concerning persistent rumours of a super tour comprising the four Grand Slams and the nine Masters 1000 which would presumably leave the ATP to pick up the scraps at 250 and 500-level events.
“Tennis is now in a difficult situation, because I don’t think anyone knows exactly what will happen,” he said..
“I know there are problems between Tennis Australia and the ATP; the Grand Slams and the ATP and WTA.”
And as for Saudi, which has already secured the year-end NextGen even for under21s:.
“What will it be like? Will a tournament be held there? Will there be several? Is it a kind of ‘super premier tour’ that the Grand Slams are creating with Saudi Arabia?
“The truth is that I do not know what it will be like . “
The former No. 1 also called out his fellow ATP elites, who have never been shy about flying to far-flung exhibition paydays while complaining about the travel strain of the regular Tour.
““It seems hypocritical to me. I would only ask the players to be a little more selective when it comes to talking about the circuit, the calendar and everything when they are not playing exhibitions.”
He added: “I don’t know if I would want restrictions on exhibitions, I just think that sometimes players are hypocrites with the tennis calendar.
“It’s too long, but then they are flying all over the world in the off-season to play exhibitions.”
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will demonstrate the problem on Sunday, when they compete in a one-off event in Las Vegas for unrevealed millions before flying an hour south to play the Indian Wells Masters from March 7.
