Taylor Fritz spoke frankly about the length of the ATP calendar and its toll on him during his participation at the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
Several players have spoken about the length of the season in recent months, with many ATP and WTA stars arguing that the intensity of the schedule leads to burnout and does not give ample time to rest and recuperate.
Alexander Zverev was particularly stinging in his criticism of the governing bodies. This year’s French Open runner-up believes the ATP does not care about the players, although he also dismissed the idea of a boycott.
Carlos Alcaraz is another player at the top of tennis who has expressed unhappiness with the calendar. The Spaniard admitted there have been times he did not want to go to tournaments due to feeling burnt out.
After Alcaraz received criticism for playing at exhibitions despite his complaints, Fritz defended the four-time Grand Slam champion on social media, arguing the intensity of an ATP event and an exhibition are not the same.
However, not all players share the same opinion about the calendar. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner was more diplomatic, saying Alcaraz does not have to play in every tournament and can plan his schedule.
Sinner defeated Fritz in the 2024 US Open final last month, but the American’s run to that stage was outstanding. What the 26-year-old achieved was doubly impressive after the injury issues he discussed in a recent press conference.
Fritz admitted he has been playing with injuries since the French Open and did not feel great. He decided to play through the pain rather than rest to avoid wasting months by being on the sidelines for an extended period.
“Pretty awful…. Yeah, I’ve been dealing with injuries since the French Open that I haven’t had time to get to go away, I’ve kind of just been playing through.”
“If an injury is not completely bad enough to keep me out, then I’m just going to play, I don’t want to, you know, waste months, and just slowly it gets better, and it kind of has. That’s not just me, at this time of the year most of the guys have been going all year, everyone’s dealing with something.”
This year’s US Open runner-up believes the season is too long and wrongly thought he would have more time to rest if he became more successful. Playing more matches at tournaments means Fritz’s schedule is more intense.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s like the season is too long. I always thought if I got ranked higher I could play less, and I am, I am playing less tournaments, but I’m also winning a lot more matches at the big tournaments, so I’m playing probably more than ever, even though I thought it wasn’t going to be like this (laughing).”
The number of players speaking about the impact of the lengthy season continues to grow, but it does not seem like any changes to the ATP or WTA schedules are coming anytime soon.
