Pathetic October/November 2012 ATP scheduling - Paris/London Finals suffer the most.

[Homeboy Hotel]

In the past the season ends at the end of November. In 2012, the season will end on the 12th November.

By 'shortening' the schedule just means the same amount of tournaments, just WAY more compact. So the Paris 2012 final will be on Sunday 4th November and the first day of London World Tour Finals will be Monday 5th November. This is just absolutely stupid, no week gap.
(And the London final will now be on Monday 3pm instead of Sunday 5pm, ATP obviously not going for viewers...)

There is next to no time for the players to get to London, practice, rest, none of the usual WTF pre-media stuff (dressed in suits photo, PR stints etc).

And here's something I don't believe the ATP have thought about, say the Paris 2012 final is repeated: Federer vs Tsonga

And for London, Federer is in Group A and Tsonga Group B.

This means that one of the players, indefinitely, will be expected to play the following day in London. And the only way you can stop that from happening is by:

A) Fixing the World Tour Finals draw
B) Making Paris non mandatory
C) London organisers preying there's no two qualified players in the Paris final

And B, without a doubt, will pi$$ off the Paris organisers. I would not be surprised if all the top players withdrew from Paris. This puts Federer in an awkward position, if he wants to get back on top yet defend his London crown he's gonna want to be in peak rest and fitness and that (ultimately) means having to dock a heavy 1000 points from his Paris 2011 win by skipping.


What is MY solution?
Here's the current 2012 calender set up:
October 8th [Masters 1000] Shanghai
October 15th [ATP 250] Stockholm/Moscow/Vienna
October 22th [ATP 500]Basel/Valencia
October 29th [Masters 1000] Paris
November 5th [World Tour Finals] London

This is what I would do:
October 8th [Masters 1000] Shanghai
October 15th [Masters 1000] Paris
October 22th [ATP 500]Basel/Valencia
October 29th [ATP 250] Stockholm/Moscow/Vienna
November 5th [World Tour Finals] London

Here, Shanghai and Paris are played back to back. Since they are both on other sides of the world make one non-mandatory and reintroduce Monte Carlo as mandatory, this gets the compulsory tournaments out of the way . This then allows the players the flexibility to have much (or as little) rest leading up to London and it's all down to the player how they schedule their time for the big YEC.

To conclude: the ATP calender is a total mess.

 

[jones101]

I dont agree with your solution per se but the end of season schedule is crazy.

Either the top players will put out of Paris to prepare for the WTF (reducing the Paris to practical 500), or they play both, thus reducing the quality of their play for the WTF, which is a showcase event.

Factor in a lot of players are weary this time of year, and that some may play Davis Cup straight afterwards makes its really difficult.

And the summer is already condensed with it being an olympic year!

 

[sportsfan1]

Hopefully someday the players and administrators will realize the simple fact that you can't continue to keep shortening the calendar **and** also have the same number of events ,**and** also have big breaks in between some of the events (e.g., iirc: end of Wimby and Start of Toronto, end of US Open and asian swing etc).

 

[Fate Archer]

What is MY solution?
Here's the current 2012 calender set up:
October 8th [Masters 1000] Shanghai
October 15th [ATP 250] Stockholm/Moscow/Vienna
October 22th [ATP 500]Basel/Valencia
October 29th [Masters 1000] Paris
November 5th [World Tour Finals] London

This is what I would do:
October 8th [Masters 1000] Shanghai
October 15th [Masters 1000] Paris
October 22th [ATP 500]Basel/Valencia
October 29th [ATP 250] Stockholm/Moscow/Vienna
November 5th [World Tour Finals] London

I think I would make it this order:

October 8th [Masters 1000] Shanghai
October 15th [ATP 500]Basel/Valencia
October 22th [Masters 1000] Paris
October 29th [ATP 250] Stockholm/Moscow/Vienna
November 5th [World Tour Finals]

This way top players will have 1 week to pace and schedule themselves for the China to Paris travel, and mid to lower ranked players will have 1 week rest inbetween Basel/Valencia and Moscow/Vienna/Stockolm.

There woud also be 1 week for the top players to rest and do their publicity stuff before the start of the World Tour Finals.

Of course, it would be great if just switching dates of events were so easy. There are problaby lots of interests from the tournament directors, sponsors and the ATP for them to not reach a better schedule for late 2012.

 

[not_federer]

That schedule is insane. Two 500s, two Masters and the WTF within a month of each other! This is the same number of tournaments even closer together which is even more harsh than the schedule this year.

Talk about missing the point entirely.