Is the tennis season too long?

RaulRamirez

RaulRamirez

Legend
Yes, we're all tennis fans here, and the more tennis, the better, right?
I don't know.
Currently, the schedule is just about a full 11 months - only December is off.
Is that enough time for players to rest, recover and regroup?
Is that even enough time for fans to chill and have anticipation for the season ahead?

By comparison, MLB, which has a long season, has a 3.5-month offseason from the World Series until the following year's Spring
training.
The NFL (of course, a very physical sport) has about a 5-month break from the Super Bowl to the next training camps.

Thoughts?
 
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tennis is a unique sport, with many surfaces, which doesnt give us the opportunity to determine who is the best, thus they must pay the price for it, hence such a short offseason, all is fair and square
 
The season needs to end shortly after the US Open. Shanghai and Paris are ridiculous. Go straight to the tour finals and leave sept and Oct to the 250/500s so non top 8 can go to UE to chase points if they want.
 
It's way too long. It's not just a rest thing - tennis is an individual technique sport, and players barely get any time to tinker with their games between seasons.

No wonder most of them play the same cookie cutter style.

At the very least Mid-November to Mid-January should be tennis-free IMO. Move AO forward a couple weeks or even a month - the weather is basically the same.
 
Top players take time off (almost one month) after AO, Wimbledon & US Open every year that is approximately 3 months

Plus 6 weeks after finish of YEC to start of January

Yes the season is very long for rest of players
 
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aldeayeah said:
It's way too long. It's not just a rest thing - tennis is an individual technique sport, and players barely get any time to tinker with their games between seasons.

No wonder most of them play the same cookie cutter style.

At the very least Mid-November to Mid-January should be tennis-free IMO. Move AO forward a couple weeks or even a month - the weather is basically the same.
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No chance. AO is played at the end of January because it is the summer holidays in Australia at that time, so families with children attend AO. Moving AO a few weeks later would have a negative impact on ticket revenue.
 
Totally too long, and with the heinous physical demands of the modern game, you see the effects on players. So many burnout cases throughout the course of the grueling season.

I feel the same way about the NBA - and yet, those are my two favourite sports because of the fact that there’s basically something important happening 24/7.

It’s a delicate balance between my base instincts and enjoyment of the sport and my growing frustration with the amount of injuries and players unable to physically bring their best on the biggest stage, as well as my sympathy for clearly exhausted players.
 
Kralingen said:
Totally too long, and with the heinous physical demands of the modern game, you see the effects on players. So many burnout cases throughout the course of the grueling season.

I feel the same way about the NBA - and yet, those are my two favourite sports because of the fact that there’s basically something important happening 24/7.

It’s a delicate balance between my base instincts and enjoyment of the sport and my growing frustration with the amount of injuries and players unable to physically bring their best on the biggest stage, as well as my sympathy for clearly exhausted players.
Click to expand...
I agree with you, and that inherent dilemma, but NBA players do get 3.5 to 4 months off from the NBA Finals (mid June) to the following season's training camps (early October).
 
As a chiefly outdoor sport, winter would be the natural break season for tennis.

Something like a March to November season (like F1, for example) would be ideal.

However the Australian Open throws a wrench in this plan.
 
RaulRamirez said:
Yes, we're all tennis fans here, and the more tennis, the better, right?
I don't know.
Currently, the schedule is just about a full 11 months - only December is off.
Is that enough time for players to rest, recover and regroup?
Is that even enough time for fans to chill and have anticipation for the season ahead?

By comparison, MLB, which has a long season, has a 3.5-month offseason from the World Series until the following year's Spring
training.
The NFL (of course, a very physical sport) has about a 5-month break from the Super Bowl to the next training camps.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Yes. Too long.
 
Kralingen said:
Totally too long, and with the heinous physical demands of the modern game, you see the effects on players. So many burnout cases throughout the course of the grueling season.

I feel the same way about the NBA - and yet, those are my two favourite sports because of the fact that there’s basically something important happening 24/7.

It’s a delicate balance between my base instincts and enjoyment of the sport and my growing frustration with the amount of injuries and players unable to physically bring their best on the biggest stage, as well as my sympathy for clearly exhausted players.
Click to expand...
If new players are weaklings its not the tour's fault really.
Big3, Stan, Murray, Berdych etc all used to play atleast 70 matches a year in their 20s, and freaks like Federer even went as far as playing almost 100 matches.
They did just fine ig.
 
I think it's too long. It affects my personal life. I stopped watching tennis for a few years post 2016 until covid hit. The work from home allowed to watch some matches. But the season is too long. Every day there would be a new masters or 500s and now they made masters 2 weeks long.
 
Well players can choose which tournaments they’re going to play right? Just don’t play the tournament if you think you need time to recover? It’s not like you have to win all masters and slams in a season, or is there some kind of punishment if you don’t play every tournament…
 
Sudacafan said:
I expected an elaborated answer. But nevermind.
Click to expand...
Here you go. The reason I believe the season is too long is there are too many injuries and viewership drops once the US is open. There is so much focus on the majors and masters 100k's that nobody cares once they are done.
 
The players to some extent choose their schedule. They don't have to play between the AO and Indian Wells. There's a gap between Wimbledon and the Canadian Masters. If their target at that time of the year is really the USO they can show up in Canada underdone in terms of practice with the aim of peaking a month later. It's a long season, but the player can choose how to manage it.
 
Why don't the players vote on it as part of the Player's Council? Can't they pass a mock vote, even if the final decision rests elsewhere?
 
I enjoy watching ATP & WTA events, but when compared to other professional sports, I do think the season is way too long. Without picking winners and losers, I have no idea how it can be shortened up though.
 
Yes it is too long. It has so many disadvantages. Players are exhausted, a lot of injuries because season is so long that their body can't handle the strains on their body.

Players don't really have time to reinvent their game, to improve in many aspects of their game.

I think it is no concidence that we had lots of great seasons from 2 members of the Big Three after an injury lay off and very long off-season/recovery from injury. Roger entered 2017 energized, ready to swing freely with neo backhand. He had a lot of time before 2017 to sharpen his game. Of course he did not choose it intentionally, because he was recovering from injury, but the long break was clearly beneficial for him.

Same with Rafa. Almost all his best seasons came after recovering from injury, long break in the previous season. in 2013 he was coming back from knee injury. Did not play for 6 months. In 2016, 2018 and 2021 he had to end his seasons earlier and look what happened over the next seasons.
 
Probably, yea. The season should end at the middle of October or so to give the players at least a real off season. That's not long but better than they have now.
 
The season is fine, but what they need to do is stop making tournaments mandatory. Let the players figure it out for themselves what works for them. Some players thrive in conditions that others don't in, shortening the season could impact their chances on making money and gaining points.
 
soldat said:
Well players can choose which tournaments they’re going to play right? Just don’t play the tournament if you think you need time to recover? It’s not like you have to win all masters and slams in a season, or is there some kind of punishment if you don’t play every tournament…
Click to expand...

1) The Masters 1000s are mandatory events (except the Monte Carlo tournament) and players will get punished for not participating.

2) Any player positioned in the Top 30 at the end of the previous season have to play four (4) ATP 500 tournaments, one (1) of which must be held following the US Open. Players will get punished for not playing.

3) A player's rankings is based on calculating his total points from the four (4) Grand Slams tournaments, the eight (8) mandatory Masters 1000s and his best seven (7) results from other tournaments. If a player wants to have a good ranking, he'll need to earn points.
 
RaulRamirez said:
Yes, we're all tennis fans here, and the more tennis, the better, right?
I don't know.
Currently, the schedule is just about a full 11 months - only December is off.
Is that enough time for players to rest, recover and regroup?
Is that even enough time for fans to chill and have anticipation for the season ahead?

By comparison, MLB, which has a long season, has a 3.5-month offseason from the World Series until the following year's Spring
training.
The NFL (of course, a very physical sport) has about a 5-month break from the Super Bowl to the next training camps.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Should be 10 months season, with 4 GS tournaments, YEC and 7x M1000. Also, M1000s should all be 1-week events.
That's 16 weeks of top level tennis, out of ~40 weeks season.
More top players would contend in more ATP500 tournaments, whole season quality would lift up, more rest for top players, less injuries...
 
octobrina10 said:
1) The Masters 1000s are mandatory events (except the Monte Carlo tournament) and players will get punished for not participating.

2) Any player positioned in the Top 30 at the end of the previous season have to play four (4) ATP 500 tournaments, one (1) of which must be held following the US Open. Players will get punished for not playing.

3) A player's rankings is based on calculating his total points from the four (4) Grand Slams tournaments, the eight (8) mandatory Masters 1000s and his best seven (7) results from other tournaments. If a player wants to have a good ranking, he'll need to earn points.
Click to expand...

What is the punishment for skipping masters and not playing ATP500s? But 99% it's still far better to just take the punishment instead of playing too much and risk injury.
 
Frankly I’d like to see more upper level challengers and 250s sprinkled in December/Jan to give players ranked in the 100-150 range a last chance to get their ranking high enough to get entry into the Australian open. Gimmie something to watch. And besides a lot of my underdog favs are in desperate need of points right now (someone save my Cressy, I need him in the main draw to stave off crippling indifference.)
 
jdx2112 said:
The season needs to end shortly after the US Open. Shanghai and Paris are ridiculous. Go straight to the tour finals and leave sept and Oct to the 250/500s so non top 8 can go to UE to chase points if they want.
Click to expand...
What I don’t think is fair is clay court season is longer than grass. Doesn’t seem to be equal. I think both should be the same. Yet there’s what 3 atp 1000s and a 500 before the French? And a couple 250s? It’s about a month or so of clay season prior to French.

There are 2 weeks of 250s and a 500 prior to Wimbledon.
 
Agree that the season is too long.

My feeling is that there are not enough matches of significance in the season any more. Something is seriously wrong given how long the season is, and how many opportunities there are to play.

I hate to say this because I know I am slaughtering sacred cows given how beloved indoor tennis is on TTW, but it is outrageous how many tournaments are played in junk time after the last major of the year. Fine tuning the bloated Q4 of the season is the obvious place to start tinkering imo.
 
It is not too long. The top players pick and choose what they play giving the lower ranked guys opportunities. If anything there should be more events giving the lower ranked players more opportunities at a slice of the $$$ pie.

Today it doesn't even make sense for lower ranked players to even tour.
 
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