The new ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournament formats aren’t the most player-friendly in many ways, which is why quite a few have opposed them.
Andy Murray was one of the first players to come out against it, and it happened early on when it was announced. Most players didn’t really publicly comment, but after experiencing it now, they’re starting to come out against it.
Caroline Garcia from the WTA players recently discussed the issues, as did Andrey Rublev, who doesn’t like that the decision was made without the players even being asked. Obviously, reaching a consensus among a large group of people can be problematic, but it would be only fair.
After all, the players will feel it the most. They are the ones who play, as opposed to event organizers, who will only be counting the profit made from the few days of extra play.
“It’s tough a bit question, because it’s true that some tournaments it looks like they are longer and we have more days to rest, but then you end up, let’s say maybe before we had Madrid and Rome, and in two weeks we were playing these two tournaments, and then you had two weeks more at home. Now looks like we are having more rest between matches but it takes us four weeks.”
Rublev made the same point Murray made initially, and it boils down to the season being longer. It’s already too long, and the players are away from home most of the year, and now it’s being prolonged even further. As a player with kids, Murray didn’t like that, and neither does Rublev.
“But it’s a tough question, because here there is a lot of inside details, and it’s not easy to say which option is good, which option is not good. I guess it should be more about how all the players are thinking, the average of the players, and then also what’s better for spectators.”
“Then, depending of most of the players’ opinion and depending of how it goes with the spectators, then to do those decisions, because sometimes they’re taking decisions without asking anyone. Then some players like it, some players don’t like it.”
