Should there be a Masters on grass?

Should there be an ATP Masters event on grass?

  • No

    Votes: 9 7.6%
  • Yes

    Votes: 110 92.4%

  • Total voters
    119
  • Poll closed .

tennis_hand

Hall of Fame
There are so many hard court and clay court masters, but shouldn't there be a re-scheduling and put a Masters on grass before Wimbledon, with Wimbledon being the pinnacle of the Slams?
 

Hewitt Aussie

Professional
i think it would be great if they made Queens a masters series. Not only is it a good place, but Hewitt actually wins at queens:)
 

need2paint

Rookie
I don't think any city that already has a major should also have a masters (Paris), so that leaves out Queen's club.

Tennis is a global sport. There should be another masters in Asia (Tokyo would be good) and at least one in Latin America.
 

Andres

G.O.A.T.
I don't think any city that already has a major should also have a masters (Paris), so that leaves out Queen's club.

Tennis is a global sport. There should be another masters in Asia (Tokyo would be good) and at least one in Latin America.
Spain has Valencia, Barcelona (one of the biggest non MS tourneys), and MS Madrid. Why can't England have a grass Master Series :D?
 

need2paint

Rookie
Spain has Valencia, Barcelona (one of the biggest non MS tourneys), and MS Madrid. Why can't England have a grass Master Series :D?
It's not about England. London already has Wimbledon, and Queen's Club is also in London. Now if you want Sheffield to be a Master's it's a different story. But I think Tennis is mishandling it's global popularity by putting all the big tournaments in N. America and Europe.
 

Andres

G.O.A.T.
What is the problem with having a Major and a Slam anyway? If Paris has them, why can't London?

Latin America doesn't have the money or the infrastructure to have a Master Series. Otherwise, they would have done it already
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
Problem is that there is no time and no venue. Unless the schedule is changed, it would have to start the Monday after the Roland Garros final, or be the week right before Wimbledon. Neither is a good option.

What facility? Needs to be up to Masters Series standards for courts, capacity, etc. I don't think Queens or Halle meet those standards.
 
move roland garos up earlier to leave more time for grass
there is gonna be clay tournament cuts already why not move the french too

and whoever voted no is indeed a "clay n@zi"
 

need2paint

Rookie
What is the problem with having a Major and a Slam anyway? If Paris has them, why can't London?

Latin America doesn't have the money or the infrastructure to have a Master Series. Otherwise, they would have done it already

The problem is that tennis is popular everywhere, so it would be a good idea to spread things out evenly. I know Paris has a masters and a major, and I don't like that either.

Latin America certainly does have the infrastructure for a masters. If they can host an Olympics and a World Cup, they can host a masters. Are you going to tell me Asia only has one masters because they don't have the infrastructure for more?
 

jmsx521

Hall of Fame
All of these years and I never thought of that; yes, I think they should divide their Masters' events into the different surfaces that there are. I wouldn't mind if they add another type of surface, or two. For example:
  • Asphalt
  • Hard rubber surface (like the surface of the outdoor play-grounds for kids)
  • Big glossy tiles (like the flooring in the kitchens)
 

Vision84

Hall of Fame
They should turn Nottingham into a Masters and have it played at a different time. Henman would always play there before wimbledon instead of queens.
 

helloworld

Hall of Fame
Latin America certainly does have the infrastructure for a masters. If they can host an Olympics and a World Cup, they can host a masters. Are you going to tell me Asia only has one masters because they don't have the infrastructure for more?

I don't think there's any masters in Asia at all except the Masters Cup which China will only host for 3 years. They certainly could afford to make Masters series tournament, but I don't know why there aren't any in Asia...
 

z-money

Semi-Pro
it is the origional surface of tennis! and the surface of the most prestigous tournament. yet no masters for it... deplorable
 
The bottom line is that there is nothing special about a hard court tournament in Asia. The game was developed, and perhaps invented, in England, on grass.

First off, there need to be WAY more grass court tournaments. The only reason hard courts even exist was to bring tennis to the masses who can't afford country club dues. Since when do the professional ranks need to cut costs? Since when can the pros not afford grass courts?

It's depolorable what's happened to grass. There should be equal numbers of Masters events on all the surfaces, including grass. Instead, we have two of the few grass events occurring at the same time, which sucks.

There really is no grass season at all. This is an abomination to the sport, to players, and fans.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Yeah the ideal scheduling would be to make clay, grass, and hard court equal. To me hard courts are the least interesting of the surfaces so they should take out some of those.
 

need2paint

Rookie
The bottom line is that there is nothing special about a hard court tournament in Asia. The game was developed, and perhaps invented, in England, on grass.

First off, there need to be WAY more grass court tournaments. The only reason hard courts even exist was to bring tennis to the masses who can't afford country club dues. Since when do the professional ranks need to cut costs? Since when can the pros not afford grass courts?

It's depolorable what's happened to grass. There should be equal numbers of Masters events on all the surfaces, including grass. Instead, we have two of the few grass events occurring at the same time, which sucks.

There really is no grass season at all. This is an abomination to the sport, to players, and fans.

I agree with everything you've said, and I think a masters tournament, in Tokyo, on grass, would be a great idea.

Tennis has a lot of potential that it is wasting. People all over the world play it, yet 99% of the matches are played in Europe or the US. Formula 1 has expanded to Japan and Malaysia I think. There used to be an F1 race in Mexico City.

The two most global sports are soccer and tennis, but tennis, while holding events in many countries, continues to reserve its most prestigious events for the West. They were smart for giving Shanghai the ATP championships and they've agreed to give Shanghai a permanent masters too. But this should be only the beginning.

I look at it this way:

London, Paris, New York, and Melbourne have a giant tennis tourney every year called a major. There is a second tier of important tourneys called "masters", and these masters should be played in the great cities of the world, that do not already have a major.

So the majors would be played in places like Tokyo, Shanghai, Rome, Madrid or Barcelona, Toronto or Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City or Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, Monte Carlo, Munich or Berlin.

(if it were me I would get rid of the Canadian tournament, and give it to Johannesburg.)

That makes 10 Masters tournaments, plus 4 majors. A top 30 player could choose to only play those 14 tournaments all year and have nothing to complain about as far as over-scheduling.
 
Last edited:

kingdaddy41788

Hall of Fame
The bottom line is that there is nothing special about a hard court tournament in Asia. The game was developed, and perhaps invented, in England, on grass.

First off, there need to be WAY more grass court tournaments. The only reason hard courts even exist was to bring tennis to the masses who can't afford country club dues. Since when do the professional ranks need to cut costs? Since when can the pros not afford grass courts?

It's depolorable what's happened to grass. There should be equal numbers of Masters events on all the surfaces, including grass. Instead, we have two of the few grass events occurring at the same time, which sucks.

There really is no grass season at all. This is an abomination to the sport, to players, and fans.

For once, stormholloway, I can agree with you.

I agree with everything you've said, and I think a masters tournament, in Tokyo, on grass, would be a great idea.

Tennis has a lot of potential that it is wasting. People all over the world play it, yet 99% of the matches are played in Europe or the US. Formula 1 has expanded to Japan and Malaysia I think. There used to be an F1 race in Mexico City.

The two most global sports are soccer and tennis, but tennis, while holding events in many countries, continues to reserve its most prestigious events for the West. They were smart for giving Shanghai the ATP championships and they've agreed to give Shanghai a permanent masters too. But this should be only the beginning.

I look at it this way:

London, Paris, New York, and Melbourne have a giant tennis tourney every year called a major. There is a second tier of important tourneys called "masters", and these masters should be played in the great cities of the world, that do not already have a major.

So the majors would be played in places like Tokyo, Shanghai, Rome, Madrid or Barcelona, Toronto or Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City or Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, Monte Carlo, Munich or Berlin.

That makes 10 Masters tournaments, plus 4 majors. A top 30 player could choose to only play those 14 tournaments all year and have nothing to complain about as far as over-scheduling.

Agreed.
 
I agree with everything you've said, and I think a masters tournament, in Tokyo, on grass, would be a great idea.

Tennis has a lot of potential that it is wasting. People all over the world play it, yet 99% of the matches are played in Europe or the US. Formula 1 has expanded to Japan and Malaysia I think. There used to be an F1 race in Mexico City.

The two most global sports are soccer and tennis, but tennis, while holding events in many countries, continues to reserve its most prestigious events for the West. They were smart for giving Shanghai the ATP championships and they've agreed to give Shanghai a permanent masters too. But this should be only the beginning.

I look at it this way:

London, Paris, New York, and Melbourne have a giant tennis tourney every year called a major. There is a second tier of important tourneys called "masters", and these masters should be played in the great cities of the world, that do not already have a major.

So the majors would be played in places like Tokyo, Shanghai, Rome, Madrid or Barcelona, Toronto or Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City or Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, Monte Carlo, Munich or Berlin.

(if it were me I would get rid of the Canadian tournament, and give it to Johannesburg.)

That makes 10 Masters tournaments, plus 4 majors. A top 30 player could choose to only play those 14 tournaments all year and have nothing to complain about as far as over-scheduling.

I never understood Cincinatti as a Masters site. That can be shipped elsewhere as far as I'm concerned (no offense to Cincy people). A grass tournament in Japan would be sweet.

I agree about Paris too. Paris already has Roland Garros. It's redundant.

I'd like to see a bigger event in Buenos Aires. That's a major tennis hub down there.

Honestly, the sport of tennis is so grossly mismanaged and misrepresented worldwide that it's a mystery that it's even as popular as it is (and it's declined severely since the 'heyday').
 
I agree with all people who voted 'yes', there must be a Grass Masters before Wimbledon to complete the grass season :D
I think all the seasons must be equal on number of tournaments, every surface must have one event of each type: Challengers, ATP's, One or Two Masters Series and One Grand Slam. We're the fans, we want a grass Masters Series!

Maybe we must write a letter to Etienne De Villiers about this, he'll understand us :lol:
 

kingdaddy41788

Hall of Fame
I agree with all people who voted 'yes', there must be a Grass Masters before Wimbledon to complete the grass season :D
I think all the seasons must be equal on number of tournaments, every surface must have one event of each type: Challengers, ATP's, One or Two Masters Series and One Grand Slam. We're the fans, we want a grass Masters Series!

Maybe we must write a letter to Etienne De Villiers about this, he'll understand us :lol:

BAHAHAHAHAHA Yeah when pigs fly
 

Rhino

Legend
I'd rather things were just left as they are but if they must change something then having a Masters on grass would be my first choice, and I would down-grade one of the US hard court Masters to make way for it (to keep the total at 9) - probably Cincy (yes I know it makes loads of money).
Monte-Carlo should definitely stay as a Masters, it's the best setting we have on the tour.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
I would make many changes. First let the Australian Open be the last tournament on hard court until after Wimbledon. From February-April is the Clay Season. May-July is the Grass season. August-October hard court season. The offseason left as a couple tournaments before the Australian Open at the normal time or maybe earlier. Maybe even have the Australian Open be green clay (faster clay).
 

Zets147

Banned
Dear Sir Etienne De Villiers,

From the very first time I saw your name, it made me giggled. (got his attention). blah blah blah Master Series on Grass blah blah blah Federer pwnz blah blah blah tournaments to close to each other blah blah blah Etienne De Villiers sounds awesome blah blah blah. Thank you very much for your time.

- TW, General Pro Player Discussion Sub Forum (<< Joke).
 

Silent

Professional
(if it were me I would get rid of the Canadian tournament, and give it to Johannesburg.)
I agree there should be a masters on grass, but I don't think getting rid of the Canadian masters is the right solution. Last year's attendance in Montreal was 173k people, which is a world record for a one-week tournament.
 

Rhino

Legend
I agree there should be a masters on grass, but I don't think getting rid of the Canadian masters is the right solution. Last year's attendance in Montreal was 173k people, which is a world record for a one-week tournament.
Agreed, I love the Canadian Masters. It was in Toronto last year though, I was there and it was one of the best tennis events I have been to outside the slams.
Get rid of Cincy if you have to cut a Masters. US already have IW and Miami Masters anyway.
 

kingdaddy41788

Hall of Fame
they should have 8 masters series and 4 slams. 2 masters series and 1 slam on each surface.

Seriously, I think that's the best idea we've had yet. If only the people at the ATP actually cared what fans thought and didn't think they knew what we wanted better than we do.
 

Rhino

Legend
they should have 8 masters series and 4 slams. 2 masters series and 1 slam on each surface.

yes that is a good idea, but what do you mean 'each' surface? hardcourt already has 2 slams and 4 or 5 Masters Series events... what, are you gonna cut a slam and add a surface? A carpet slam perhaps :)
 

WayneCM

Semi-Pro
It is madness that there is no masters series on grass, but if they were to do this they would have to downgrade another tournament, and despite there being no grass court masters i do like those currently in place and i don't think that its a priority for the atp...
 

jamumafa

Semi-Pro
the possible schedule according to the dude that posted above me regarding the 8 MS and 4 slams. Slight change being that thee is 9 AMS with 1 leading to Shanghai. Players must play a mandatory one AMS before every slam.

This is just the masters series on the schedule - other tournaments placed inbetween on the same surface EG: Dubai, Doha, Zagreb etc. Some tournaments like indoors hard and carpet etc should be used to fill gaps so that the slams and the AMS's can be played at that countries near-optimum temperature.

A weeks break after every slam before *ANY* tournament is played, even filler tournies like Zagreb. Couldnt think of a way to seperate the AMS'.


*Start of year*
*Filler tournies such as Doha, Dubai*
AMS Indian Wells
AMS Miami

Aussie Open
*break - with filler clay tournies such as Stuttgart and Barcelona*

AMS Monte Carlo
AMS Rome

[Roland Garros
*break with filler tournies such as Nottingham and that American grass tourney*

AMS Queens
AMS Halle

Wimbledon
*break with filler hard court tournies like Washington etc*

AMS Canada
AMS Cincy

US Open

*break, indoor fillers like Zagreb and Rotterdam*
AMS Madrid
*break*
Shanghai (or wherever the hell the Masters Cup is)

Anyone wanna make any modifications?

Don't flame too much :p
 

caulcano

Hall of Fame
the possible schedule according to the dude that posted above me regarding the 8 MS and 4 slams. Slight change being that thee is 9 AMS with 1 leading to Shanghai. Players must play a mandatory one AMS before every slam.

This is just the masters series on the schedule - other tournaments placed inbetween on the same surface EG: Dubai, Doha, Zagreb etc. Some tournaments like indoors hard and carpet etc should be used to fill gaps so that the slams and the AMS's can be played at that countries near-optimum temperature.

A weeks break after every slam before *ANY* tournament is played, even filler tournies like Zagreb. Couldnt think of a way to seperate the AMS'.


*Start of year*
*Filler tournies such as Doha, Dubai*
AMS Indian Wells
AMS Miami

Aussie Open
*break - with filler clay tournies such as Stuttgart and Barcelona*

AMS Monte Carlo
AMS Rome

[Roland Garros
*break with filler tournies such as Nottingham and that American grass tourney*

AMS Queens
AMS Halle

Wimbledon
*break with filler hard court tournies like Washington etc*

AMS Canada
AMS Cincy

US Open

*break, indoor fillers like Zagreb and Rotterdam*
AMS Madrid
*break*
Shanghai (or wherever the hell the Masters Cup is)

Anyone wanna make any modifications?

Don't flame too much :p

Looks good, but it's too radical of a change/re-arrange of tournies.
 

christos_liaskos

Professional
It's not about England. London already has Wimbledon, and Queen's Club is also in London. Now if you want Sheffield to be a Master's it's a different story. But I think Tennis is mishandling it's global popularity by putting all the big tournaments in N. America and Europe.

Hey I'm from Sheffield. I would never have thought my little city would get mentioned on this board lol. That would be so awesome to have a masters series here haha. Not gonna happen in a million years
 

GOD_BLESS_RAFA

Semi-Pro
I don't think any city that already has a major should also have a masters (Paris), so that leaves out Queen's club.

Tennis is a global sport. There should be another masters in Asia (Tokyo would be good) and at least one in Latin America.
Why not South Africa ? :)
 

GOD_BLESS_RAFA

Semi-Pro
*Start of year*
*Filler tournies such as Doha, Dubai*
AMS Indian Wells
AMS Miami

Aussie Open
*break - with filler clay tournies such as Stuttgart and Barcelona*


AMS Monte Carlo
AMS Rome

[Roland Garros
*break with filler tournies such as Nottingham and that American grass tourney*

AMS Queens
AMS Halle

Wimbledon
*break with filler hard court tournies like Washington etc*

AMS Canada
AMS Cincy

US Open

*break, indoor fillers like Zagreb and Rotterdam*
AMS Madrid
*break*
Shanghai (or wherever the hell the Masters Cup is)

Anyone wanna make any modifications?

Don't flame too much :p

This first part of the year is hard for players moving from Miami to Sydney...

(Er... London is the best place for the MAster Cup no? The surfaces should be drawn too for the Masters Cup...so if grass is drawn for playing the final it should be on a grass court...maybe clay for the semis and so on...:))
 
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