The debate regarding the length of the ATP season continued on Friday night, with Novak Djokovic weighing in on a divisive issue thats split Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev.
Zverev claimed the tennis calendar is ridiculous and insisted that players need a longer off-season in order to fully recover and prepare for a new year, but Federer has argued the case that the length of the tour is essential for providing opportunities for the many in the sport and that a reduction in the calendar would see lower-ranked players struggle even more to make a living.
Djokovic agrees with the young Germans assertion that the tour should reduce in length, but accepts the issue raised by Federer poses a real challenge to the powers that be in terms of creating an ideal calendar.
But Djokovic believes a potential solution to the problem is by ending the bigger events earlier and creating a new swing at the end of the season – perhaps in South America – in order to keep offering fresh opportunities to the lesser-known professionals.
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Specifically about the calendar, its true I do think it should be shorter with more quality and focus on some big events, maybe not that spread out, he said after beating Marin Cilic 7-6 (9-7) 6-2.
At the same time I understand the point of creating more job opportunities, and I dont say that we should take away tournaments.
Maybe we can switch it around. We have different options. Maybe at the end of the year we can end up last couple weeks with a South American swing, or 250s, some 500s, end up, so to say, the big tournament season a bit earlier.
While Djokovics suggestion sounds good in theory, he accepted theres a serious challenge in the sport to reach a consensus among all the concerned bodies.
Everything is on the table, he added. But, as I said, its not that easy because you need to first of all discuss it, vote it in the council. Obviously then it has to go through the tournaments, through the board.
The complexity of our sport is the fact that we have so many different ownerships of tournaments. We have private owners, we have agencies, we have ATP, ITF, Grand Slams, federations.
Just to be able to really say, “Okay, lets have a blank paper and move things around, congest this, spread it out, whatever, make the ideal calendar”, its not that simple because it has to go through different filters.
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But tennis is the longest season of all sports. It starts January 1st, ends November 20th, full on, more or less every week you have tournaments.
Of course, we dont play every week, but if youre competing for No. 1 of the world, a lot is at stake, so you always have to kind of – when the season is on, youre always there mentally and preparing, looking for the best ways to perform your best, to win tournaments, to win points, and end up as No. 1. This is the ultimate challenge of our sport.
I think good thing is we are discussing this. Obviously whether or not something will change, we cant predict that, but were working on it.
More: Tennis
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The debate regarding the length of the ATP season continued on Friday night, with Novak Djokovic weighing in on a divisive issue thats split Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev.
Zverev claimed the tennis calendar is ridiculous and insisted that players need a longer off-season in order to fully recover and prepare for a new year, but Federer has argued the case that the length of the tour is essential for providing opportunities for the many in the sport and that a reduction in the calendar would see lower-ranked players struggle even more to make a living.
Djokovic agrees with the young Germans assertion that the tour should reduce in length, but accepts the issue raised by Federer poses a real challenge to the powers that be in terms of creating an ideal calendar.
But Djokovic believes a potential solution to the problem is by ending the bigger events earlier and creating a new swing at the end of the season – perhaps in South America – in order to keep offering fresh opportunities to the lesser-known professionals.
Advertisement Advertisement
Specifically about the calendar, its true I do think it should be shorter with more quality and focus on some big events, maybe not that spread out, he said after beating Marin Cilic 7-6 (9-7) 6-2.
At the same time I understand the point of creating more job opportunities, and I dont say that we should take away tournaments.
Maybe we can switch it around. We have different options. Maybe at the end of the year we can end up last couple weeks with a South American swing, or 250s, some 500s, end up, so to say, the big tournament season a bit earlier.
While Djokovics suggestion sounds good in theory, he accepted theres a serious challenge in the sport to reach a consensus among all the concerned bodies.
Everything is on the table, he added. But, as I said, its not that easy because you need to first of all discuss it, vote it in the council. Obviously then it has to go through the tournaments, through the board.
The complexity of our sport is the fact that we have so many different ownerships of tournaments. We have private owners, we have agencies, we have ATP, ITF, Grand Slams, federations.
Just to be able to really say, “Okay, lets have a blank paper and move things around, congest this, spread it out, whatever, make the ideal calendar”, its not that simple because it has to go through different filters.
Advertisement Advertisement
But tennis is the longest season of all sports. It starts January 1st, ends November 20th, full on, more or less every week you have tournaments.
Of course, we dont play every week, but if youre competing for No. 1 of the world, a lot is at stake, so you always have to kind of – when the season is on, youre always there mentally and preparing, looking for the best ways to perform your best, to win tournaments, to win points, and end up as No. 1. This is the ultimate challenge of our sport.
I think good thing is we are discussing this. Obviously whether or not something will change, we cant predict that, but were working on it.
More: Tennis
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