The season is almost over, although there are still several prestigious tournaments to be played. The most important tournaments in the latter part of 2024 are the Masters 1000 in Shanghai and Paris-Bercy, as well as the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The season will be closed by the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, before the players can finally rest after a very long year.
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In the last week, strong criticism of the ATP calendar has returned. During the Laver Cup, four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcarazargued that the season is too long and that players run a high risk of injury. Carlitos' words have generated much debate and were also endorsed by Alexander Zverev and Jack Draper, while world number 1 Jannik Sinner has taken a more moderate approach to the issue.
While it is certainly true that the tennis season is among the longest considering all sports, some experts have criticized players for participating in several exhibitions during the year. Alcaraz - just to give an example - played the Laver Cup in Berlin and will be one of the stars of the 'Six Kings Slam' next month in Saudi Arabia.
Different views
As a result of injuries and increasingly strenuous tennis, some players have decided to give up some tournaments during the season. Sinner will not defend his title in Vienna in the latter part of 2024, while Alcaraz has decided to give up the ATP 500 in Basel. The controversy continues on the very delicate subject of the busy calendar during the season in the ATP tour. The last to speak on the matter was Stefanos Tsitsipas with a long press release released on his personal X profile, in which he highlighted some proposals to make the program more streamlined and the most prestigious appointments less close together.
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"We are on the verge of a player-led tennis revolution. The change is not easy, but if we do it right tennis could enter a new era" he said, adding: "Lets think about how different the discipline might be if players like Rafa, Roger or Serena could have played at their highest level for a few more years". A comment to point out how the current calendar generates physical and mental wear on athletes, which causes only premature withdrawals or defeats.
The Greek ace has reported a number of interesting solutions: "A restructured calendar and the use of new technologies would not only protect the health of players, but also raise the level of competition. More rest means better tennis, which generates more enthusiasm on the part of the fans. A solution could be a rotating system for smaller tournaments, you could change location every year so as not to travel during all the weeks around the world. Portable devices that record athletes' fatigue could change the game. We can imagine that we know when an injury is about to occur or when we should rest according to the recovery statistics." Then the appeal to other colleagues: "It is necessary and we are in a unique position to negotiate these changes". But it didnt end there, because the native of Athens then deleted the post on social media. The reason was revealed by some users a few hours later: Tsitsipas used artificial intelligence to write the entire message.
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A tricky solution
This is a very sensitive issue, which lends itself to different interpretations. Looking at the numbers, it is not true that todays players play more than those of the past. At the same time, we wonder if the game has not become more expensive and burdensome than it used to be.
Recently, US Open finalist Taylor Fritz expressed his point of view about the ATP calendar: "I agree that it's hard for the ATP to shorten the calendar while seeing the top players participating in exhibitions on their off weeks. I have seen many criticize players who call for changes in the calendar and then compete in these unofficial events, but I don't understand that argument because exhibitions have nothing to do with competing in an ATP event, in terms of physical and mental demands. A tournament can involve more than 5 days of playing at your best and being completely focused on and off the court, while in an exhibition, you show up, entertain the crowd, and leave. It is very similar to a rest week. I do not expect fans to fully understand this because it is difficult to grasp the mental and physical fatigue that comes with competing at the highest level, but I hope the players do."
