Top Players Ask For Reduction In Length of Tennis Season

Personally I enjoy watching Tennis and Football the most out of all sports. We know that the May to August months are generally slightly emptier because of the lack of live football but the same cannot be said for Tennis. From the Australian Open in January and the two circuit events prior to that which are screened on Eurosport, the only other month that does not feature regular tournaments during the season is December. Far from being a chance to take a break for the top players who play lots of Tennis due to them going deep in most tournaments, they must train hard for the start of the new season a mere four weeks away.

Whilst a long Tennis season is great for Tennis betting fans around the world it is tough on the players themselves. They are well remunerated for their troubles but few could argue that travelling 45 weeks of the year playing a tournament every week, training, flying and the related duties of a top player in terms of Public relations and media would be anything other than arduous over time. With professional Tennis careers usually lasting ten to twelve years, even the most dedicated pro must wish for variety in their lives after a while.

Andy Roddick has been vocal in the media about the calendar of the ATP being too demanding. If anything the schedule was made tougher this year by the WTA for the woman who, because mainly of the Williams sisters picking and choosing events to play in whilst managing other business interests were forced to play a minimum amount of events to ensure their participation or be penalised in the form of ranking points and fines. Roddick, supported this week by Nadal, has challenged the Tennis authorities to consider the demands of Tennis on the players and make time in the schedule for the players to have a proper rest after a long season.

Tennis is big business and top tier tournaments offer good prize pools in return for the well-known players to attend the tournaments therefore drawing in the crowds so that everyone makes money. Around the world there are massive amounts of players and there are few sports where the top 600 – 1000 players are able to make a living even on the challenger or futures tiers of the game. Some professionals, including Lleyton Hewitt have not backed the calls for a lighter schedule saying that top professionals are fortunate to be in a position to enjoy the benefits of this lifestyle and to make the best of it. Dedicated players like Hewitt would be happy to benefit if other players chose to miss tournaments because of the physical demands.

Injuries are rife in the game, however, and we are not sure at the top of the men’s game whether a fully fit Rafa Nadal is ever seen on the tour. He manages to play most tournaments but struggles with the non-stop demands of the tour. A player missing even four weeks of competition from a routine injury will lose a lot of ranking points costing them vital ATP race places, so we see more players with injuries playing who never quite play to their potential.

Juan-Martin Del Potro, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray, all top 5 players, have missed long periods of time through repetitive strain injuries. Nadal has knee problems caused by his style of play whilst Del Potro and Murray both have tendonitis flare ups in their wrists. Fans miss out on seeing these players at their best and a restructured slightly less demanding season would give them more chance to recover from niggling injuries and because they could have a life outside Tennis they might be able to play longer before retiring.

Tennis fans enjoy seeing a lot of Tennis but even if the main tour was reduced the only change would be we would have to watch other events like challengers or futures which I think would be interesting. It would also mean the likes of Federer, Murray, Nadal and Djokovic would square off more often rather than choosing to play separate events and have more time to recover between tournaments. It may also stop top players like Henin, Clijsters and Hingis from retiring early due to having their life dominated by Tennis for such a large part of their lives. Balance is important in anyone’s life.

By Malcolm Clarke