Two NEW Schedule Options for ATP

Which option?

  • Option #1

  • Option #2

  • Option #3

  • Option #4


Results are only viewable after voting.

bjsnider

Hall of Fame
This gives the players less masters to have to attend, and gives them almost 2 full months to rest.
What players? Except for the top 25 or so, almost every player on the tour, and there are 750 of them BTW, needs to play every week to make anything approaching a living. Federer et al.'s interests do not necessarily align with the plebs that make up most of professional tennis.
 

Lleytonstation

Talk Tennis Guru
What players? Except for the top 25 or so, almost every player on the tour, and there are 750 of them BTW, needs to play every week to make anything approaching a living. Federer et al.'s interests do not necessarily align with the plebs that make up most of professional tennis.
So make it a 500... this would actually solve your problem of the lower ranks getting more money... not hurt it.
 

Towser83

G.O.A.T.
In your dreams. There are only 3 Masters 1000 on clay (as opposed to 6 on hard courts). If you want to add more titles on grass, remove from the hard court season to make the surface distribution more equiatative between hard, clay and grass.

I said or move the clay season to one week earlier.

However the clay season is congested, loads of players either skip Madrid or MC a lot of the time and MC has been downgraded to an optional master. If Madrid got removed (and I'm picking the one where Nadal has done the worst and Fed the best in terms of their own personal best clay masters) MC could be made a non optional master again, there would be more time to recover between events, the entry list would be stronger and MC and Rome would be more prestigious. At the moment you know not even Nadal can give it his all in all 3 masters.

Also I cut 2 HC masters as well so the ratios would be exactly the same with HC having twice as many, but clay would have twice as many as grass. You're just over sensitive about this because you're a Nadal fan

Actually if anything I'd rather Hamburg came back as a master and replaced Madrid, but I think they really need an extra week in clay season and an extra week in grass season
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
However the clay season is congested, loads of players either skip Madrid or MC

Actually if anything I'd rather Hamburg came back as a master and replaced Madrid
The greatest players don't skip them. Federer and Djokovic have played over 12 times each one Montecarlo. This year Montecarlo was played by the 3 best clay players of the moment: Nadal, Thiem and Djokovic.

In Madrid we had Nadal, Djokovic, Thiem, Tsitsipas, Wawrinka and Federer, so all the best players on the surface. And certainly we did see really good matches in Madrid.

No reason to change Madrid with Hamburg, as Madrid is working pretty well, and even has 3 courts with a roof (unlike other Masters 1000 like Cincinnati which have 0 courts with a roof).

Don't know where your irrational hate for Madrid came from.
 

Lleytonstation

Talk Tennis Guru
The greatest players don't skip them. Federer and Djokovic have played over 12 times each one Montecarlo. This year Montecarlo was played by the 3 best clay players of the moment: Nadal, Thiem and Djokovic.

In Madrid we had Nadal, Djokovic, Thiem, Tsitsipas, Wawrinka and Federer, so all the best players on the surface. And certainly we did see really good matches in Madrid.

No reason to change Madrid with Hamburg, as Madrid is working pretty well, and even has 3 courts with a roof (unlike other Masters 1000 like Cincinnati which have 0 courts with a roof).

Don't know where your irrational hate for Madrid came from.
Paris needs to go and Halle needs to be masters 1000. End season earlier and you have 3 on clay, 1 on grass, and 5 on hard. That is about as reasonable as it will ever get.

If we really have to keep Cincy (don't get why we need 4 big tourneys in the US), fine, but move it to the end of the year as an option like MC.
 

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
Most prestigious tournament is on... wait for it... grass.

Last hold out social event, yeah. But there is a reason it doesn't have a masters...cuz it isn't worth it. Nothing more than a 250 grab bag, then the Wimby exhibition.

Indian Wells is more popular with crowds and players anymore.
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Paris needs to go and Halle needs to be masters 1000. End season earlier and you have 3 on clay, 1 on grass, and 5 on hard. That is about as reasonable as it will ever get.

If we really have to keep Cincy (don't get why we need 4 big tourneys in the US), fine, but move it to the end of the year as an option like MC.
I agree. Halle has a beatiful centre court (and with a modern roof which allows natural light, unlike the AO).
 

Towser83

G.O.A.T.
The greatest players don't skip them. Federer and Djokovic have played over 12 times each one Montecarlo. This year Montecarlo was played by the 3 best clay players of the moment: Nadal, Thiem and Djokovic.

In Madrid we had Nadal, Djokovic, Thiem, Tsitsipas, Wawrinka and Federer, so all the best players on the surface. And certainly we did see really good matches in Madrid.

No reason to change Madrid with Hamburg, as Madrid is working pretty well, and even has 3 courts with a roof (unlike other Masters 1000 like Cincinnati which have 0 courts with a roof).

Don't know where your irrational hate for Madrid came from.

Irrational hate is a bit strong, I just dont think it has much history and it's always been the least liked of the clay masters by Nadal fans, and more well liked by Federer fans since the altitude there makes it play less like other clay events. Hamburg was more of usual clay event. Plus having Madrid back to back with Rome puts strain in a congested part of the season, this is also why I mooted the idea of only having one of the sunshine double, but obviously you disnt care about that because it is hardcourt, nor did you care I removed another HC master as well. But on second thoughts maybe it's good to have a less traditional clay masters as well, maybe even do the blue clay thing again

I would even remove the Roger's cup but it has prestige and that's a bit unfair to Canada, but I think there should be a week inbetween that and Cincy

As for Madrid and MC, it gets skipped far more than Rome for instance. MC should be as important and a full masters, Madrid needs to have a week between it and Rome otherwise players will not give everything to all 3. Though there are 6 HC masters there's never more than 2 in a row, clay has 3 in such a short space.

So having 3 clay masters, RG then a grass master and then Wimbledon seems a bit of a squeeze. Only solution is start clay season earlier
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Irrational hate is a bit strong, I just dont think it has much history and it's always been the least liked of the clay masters by Nadal fans, and more well liked by Federer fans since the altitude there makes it play less like other clay events. Hamburg was more of usual clay event. Plus having Madrid back to back with Rome puts strain in a congested part of the season, this is also why I mooted the idea of only having one of the sunshine double, but obviously you disnt care about that because it is hardcourt, nor did you care I removed another HC master as well. But on second thoughts maybe it's good to have a less traditional clay masters as well, maybe even do the blue clay thing again

I would even remove the Roger's cup but it has prestige and that's a bit unfair to Canada, but I think there should be a week inbetween that and Cincy

As for Madrid and MC, it gets skipped far more than Rome for instance. MC should be as important and a full masters, Madrid needs to have a week between it and Rome otherwise players will not give everything to all 3. Though there are 6 HC masters there's never more than 2 in a row, clay has 3 in such a short space.

So having 3 clay masters, RG then a grass master and then Wimbledon seems a bit of a squeeze. Only solution is start clay season earlier
I agree.
 

hipolymer

Hall of Fame
#4 : Demote Cincinnati because no prestigious tournament should be in Cincinnati; Make Queen's a masters and put it in the Montreal/Toronto time-slot, then move Montreal/Toronto to the former Cincinnati timeslot
 
Last edited:

Lleytonstation

Talk Tennis Guru
#4 : Remove Cincinnati because no prestigious tournament should be in Cincinnati; Make Queen's a masters and put it in the Montreal/Toronto time-slot, then move Montreal/Toronto to the former Cincinnati timeslot
I don't get why people are so protective of Cincy, what is so special about it? Definitely not the city like you said. What tourney has a worst location? None.
 

hipolymer

Hall of Fame
I don't get why people are so protective of Cincy, what is so special about it? Definitely not the city like you said. What tourney has a worst location? None.

Essentially only because it's the fastest major tournament on tour. But that is easily changeable by influencing other hard court masters to make them faster.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ann
No player is going to any of those countries in November unless they're from Australia and going there for the off season. That's why the AO changed its schedule in the 1980's from December to January. The WTF will never be held in any of those places, you know that. ;)

Players did it for Davis Cup ties all the time.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
So, I like variety in all aspects of tennis, whether that be surface or shot selection and style of play. I am obviously a fan of grass, however, it should remain the shortest part of the season, but there should be more emphasis on it in my opinion.

So, I give you 4 options that the ATP could do.

Option #1: Move Wimbledon back a week and keep Halle where it is at but make it a master's 1000 and move Queens back one week and keep it a 500. In this option, we would take Cincy off the table and turn it into a 500 (some will not like this). This gives Germany a big tourney, grass a master's, keeps Queens at 500, and takes away Cincy (US will still have two masters 1000 and a slam to go along with a couple 500's).

Option #2: keep things the same but remove Paris as a master's and a few 500's and end the season with the WTF at the end of October. This gives the players less masters to have to attend, and gives them almost 2 full months to rest.

Option #3: do absolutely NOTHING.

Option #4: I am a genius, let me tell you what the ATP should do.

Now, obviously this is supposed to be a hypothetical fun debate. So I get there are finances and politics that would make these options almost impossible, so put that aside... or explain how you could overcome that.
The problem with master on grass is: Halle or Queens? That's gonna cause a lot of infighting. Fed backing Halle is a huge factor but so is the history and prestige of Queens.
Imo keeping both as 500 keeps both camps happy, still gives a bit more hierarchy to grass best of 3 events (something that was much needed, everyone could feel that winning Queens meant more than winning Eastbourne of Herto) and also allows a way out for top players who play (and win) extensively on clay (easier to skip 500 than master).
Remove Paris?? Absolutely no way. There used to be 2 indoor + WTF in the fall. Now we're down to one + WTF. The minimum possible to salvage indoor imo.
The only thing that would make sense if people really insisted on a master on grass would be to take away one of the 3 masters on clay before RG. All the masters go by 2:
2 in March, 2 before USO, 2 in the fall. The 3 on clay certainly feel a bit overdrive with clay season playing out like survival of the fittest. So much so that the ATP decided to give a hybrid status to one of the 3 (part 500, part master) to relieve the players from the grueling challenge of avoiding death by exhaustion by RG :eek:
I say: do 2 on clay and 1 on grass before W, it will still be 3 on natural surfaces and will avoid the awkwardness of a non mandatory master before RG. You will now have 9 with equal status.
I would not bump Monte-Carlo though: one of the most beautiful venues with most history, I would downgrade Madrid to 500 or move Madrid back to indoor in the fall (another solution to get back to a complete indoor season with 2 indoor masters before WTF but that would also involve downgrading Shanghai status).
If that happened, I also feel grass season would have to be a bit longer. No way to move RG earlier, due to weather among other things, so it would have to be moving W to July.
And now, everyone can understand why it hasn't been done. W in July would shrink summer hard too much. Moving USO later is a problem due to media and other sports schedule. The other obvious issue is that one of the current biggest stars is Nadal. See if he and the Spanish fed would agree to one less clay master. Good luck with that.
What is left? Downgrading Shanghai to a 500, leaving indoor season and clay season exactly as they are now but adding a master before W. But even that is problematic imo. Never mind that China would get pis--d (good-bye Asian swing), that would mean that 6 of the 9 masters would be in the first half of season with only 3 in 2nd half. Too unbalanced imo. You need to maintain ranking suspense until the end and keep the audience interested.
So, folks, none of this is easy matter. Which is why the tour is the way it is right now. Maybe not the best but not so bad.
 
Top