The current debacle of extending Masters 1000 events from a week to nearly two has potential to wreck the sport, with ATP No. 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas keen to call out bosses on the unpopular move.
Tournament organises of the bigger events are, of course, all-in on the controversial change due to the chance to coin it by selling tickets for extra days of play,
But even joint ATP-WTA tournaments like Madrid and the ongoing event in Rome are scraping the barrel in the later stages,with mere handfuls of matches in the closing days.
Given a few ill-timed knockouts – Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are both long gone from Rome – and the spectacular quickly morphs into a box-office disaster.
Tsitsipas, who reached the Rome quarter-finals before a loss to Nicolas Jarry, said the crowded calendar concept is heavily flawed.
“The schedule has a big toll on our bodies. It starts from the mental side, and it follows to the physical side,” the Greek said.
“The extension of the days in the Masters 1000s I think plays a massive role and contributes a lot to the fact that these players are getting injured.”
Tsitsipas added: “”It was perhaps already a lot the way it was before with the seven-day events.
“Adding more days to that, well, you got to be some type of superhero to be consistent back-to-back 10 days in each event getting to the very end of it. It’s not a very easy thing to do.”
With Rome missing current young gun Grand Slam winners Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz to injury and the early exits of Nadal and Djokovic, the vibe at the Foro Italico is quiet desperation on the men’s side of the draw.
“These kinds of tournaments deserve names to be playing …having the opportunity to play in big stadiums and (in front of) crowds.”
The situation in 2025 looks to be even more desperate with the summer Canadian and Cincinnati events also due to expand to nearly a fortnight in a mad rush for bucks at the expense of player health and fan toleration for a diluted product.
Main photo:- Stefanos Tsitsipas won 2024 Monte Carlo Masters – by ATPTour.com
