What changes would you make to the ATP Tour to improve it?

[FrontHeadlock]

Here are some suggestions:

1. Get rid of the entire post-USO swing. Once the USO ends, give a week off then follow it with Basel/Vienna and then the ATP Finals. There are way too many points on offer after the USO, and it's a pretty dreadful part of the calendar. Convert the Asian swing (China/Japan Opens and Shanghai) to pre-AO tournaments. Totally ditch the Paris Masters and reduce the number of Masters events to 8.

2. Instead of having all of the Masters be mandatory, require players to play no more than 6 of the 8 (not choose your best 6 results). That will help spread the wealth a bit.

3. Make winning titles more important. Winning tournaments, even 250s, should be paramount. In pro golf, winning a tournament comes with a 2-year exemption on the tour. The ATP should give a bit more security to those players who win an event, perhaps by giving them guaranteed entry to a certain number of events over the next 2 years, or even a stipend that is a percentage of an annual pool (your percentage would increase based on tournaments won and the level of those tournaments). That would also help with the intense pressure of having to defend a title and wild swings in rankings as a result.

4. Get rid of appearance fees. This concentrates too much $$$ into too few hands. Either eliminate these, or do something where your total appearance fee money needs to be equally spread among players not getting appearance fees. For example, if Dubai wants to pay Djokovic $500k to play, they should match that with an extra $500k spread equally among those players who aren't getting an appearance fee (or some other rule so they don't pay every player $1 as an appearance fee). If they want to pay Djokovic $750k, then an additional $750k needs to be spread around.

 

[Deleted member 748597]

Make Belgrade the Masters 1000 on grass.

 

[Sampras-Bruguera 1993]

Get back to 1980s-1990s conditions. Get back to all court basics. Ditch the bazooka poly rackets and homogenized slow courts. That will make new stars and create new rivalries and give us clashing of styles. The homogenized era (for all the greatness it gave us with the Big 3) destroyed the game and it’s future too. These conditions just make it too easy for the same guys to dominate year after year

 

[ffw2]

They gotta crack down on cheating!

 

[Tennis Rules]

i would make the following rule:

on serve, ball toss isn`t replayable without getting a fault.

 

[Keizer]

M1000 on grass is a must. Why do we have Paris and Shanghai that always end up being vultured because the actual contenders are exhausted by the end of the season thanks to how physical tennis has become? Just very unnecessary tournaments.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

M1000 on grass is a must. Why do we have Paris and Shanghai that always end up being vultured because the actual contenders are exhausted by the end of the season thanks to how physical tennis has become? Just very unnecessary tournaments.

There are a couple problems with that:

1. There isn't time to add a Masters in the grass court seasons.

2. Would you create a new tournament, or would you elevate one of Queen's or Halle to M1000 status (or alternate them perhaps)?

3. Nobody grows up on grass or trains on grass, so in a sense grass is already overrepresented on tour (and among the Majors is wildly overrepresented). I'm loathe to add any more grass points without also creating more grass court play at lower levels.

 

[onefineday]

Best of five finals from 250 to slams.

 

[Keizer]

There are a couple problems with that:

1. There isn't time to add a Masters in the grass court seasons.

2. Would you create a new tournament, or would you elevate one of Queen's or Halle to M1000 status (or alternate them perhaps)?

3. Nobody grows up on grass or trains on grass, so in a sense grass is already overrepresented on tour (and among the Majors is wildly overrepresented). I'm loathe to add any more grass points without also creating more grass court play at lower levels.

Elevate one of Queens or Halle and get rid of Bercy. Bercy is just a useless tournament. Look at the winners in the past few years, it does not deserve to be an M1000.

As for the growing up training on grass part, nobody really grows up training on cobblestones but Paris-Roubaix is one of the most prestigious day races in all of cycling. At this point, success on grass is even more valuable to me because it shows that players are able to adapt their games to a different surface. Natural surfaces will always be king to me, they are the true challenges in tennis.

 

[dapchai]

Some suggestions:

1. Ditch out Shanghai and make Queens a M1000.
2. The YEC should be rotating between different surfaces, preferrably outdoor hard -> clay -> grass -> indoor hard every four years.
3. The indoor season should be removed or downgraded to 500s only; too many HC events already and this season right now takes place at the end of the calendar year when the top players were physically compromised.
4. The final of every YEC or M1000 should be BO5 again.

 

[King_olaf_the_hairy]

Speed up indoor courts, possibly by returning to carpet. We don't have any serve-volleyers these days because there's virtually no point on the calendar when it's a worthwhile tactic. I'm not demanding a return to the 1990s, just have enough events in a season be genuinely quick that it encourages different styles of play. I'd love to see more grass, but the cost of maintenance means that's likely a non-starter. Indoor carpet seems like an easier alternative.

Alternatively (and probably even more constructive)... ban poly strings. I think they're the single-biggest detriment to the modern game. Slower courts, higher-tech racquets, all of those could be tolerated by themselves. But poly strings were the death of variety in the sport. The rulemakers were never going to ban graphite, oversize heads, or any other technological advances of recent decades because they made it easier for recreational players, and when rec players spend money on new tech the game as a whole benefits. Also, newer stiff racquets reduced injuries like tennis elbow, so that was a win-win as well. But my understanding of poly is that it's really only good pros who benefit from it, and it increases the chances of long-term injuries too. We've had twenty years of factory-farm tennis academies cranking out nothing but power baseliners, and it sucks.

Make doubles compulsory. Roy Emerson once suggested a combined rankings system with singles and doubles points. I'd be up for that. (I don't expect much support for this one, but hey-ho...)

Put snipers in the stands to deal with players who grunt to excess. Trigger an alarm on the decibel meter? Blam! Delay your grunt until the opponent's about to hit the shot? Blam! Grunt loudly when playing a soft slice? Blam!

 

[FrontHeadlock]

Elevate one of Queens or Halle and get rid of Bercy. Bercy is just a useless tournament. Look at the winners in the past few years, it does not deserve to be an M1000.

As for the growing up training on grass part, nobody really grows up training on cobblestones but Paris-Roubaix is one of the most prestigious day races in all of cycling. At this point, success on grass is even more valuable to me because it shows that players are able to adapt their games to a different surface. Natural surfaces will always be king to me, they are the true challenges in tennis.

That is a reasonable argument in favor of grass, though I really would like to see more grass court play generally (like for example, many country clubs in the US with the means should have at least one grass court).

We are in total agreement on Bercy. Get rid of it.

 

[Keizer]

That is a reasonable argument in favor of grass, though I really would like to see more grass court play generally (like for example, many country clubs in the US with the means should have at least one grass court).

We are in total agreement on Bercy. Get rid of it.

I would also like to see grass/fast carpet play. In essence, I would like to see a variety of surfaces on tour that encourage corresponding levels of variety in players. You should not be able to overindex on three strokes (FH, BH, serve) and be able to be world #1 if you are physically resilient. That's not to say that we should go back to the S&V era. But I would like the events on tour to incentivize pros to develop all the strokes.

 

[_phantom]

BO5 in masters finals.

Remove Paris masters.

Eliminate post-USO part of the calendar as much as possible. But then again it is difficult, things like Laver Cup will pop up in that void.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

Alternatively (and probably even more constructive)... ban poly strings. I think they're the single-biggest detriment to the modern game. Slower courts, higher-tech racquets, all of those could be tolerated by themselves. But poly strings were the death of variety in the sport. The rulemakers were never going to ban graphite, oversize heads, or any other technological advances of recent decades because they made it easier for recreational players, and when rec players spend money on new tech the game as a whole benefits. Also, newer stiff racquets reduced injuries like tennis elbow, so that was a win-win as well. But my understanding of poly is that it's really only good pros who benefit from it, and it increases the chances of long-term injuries too. We've had twenty years of factory-farm tennis academies cranking out nothing but power baseliners, and it sucks.

How much does the ATP tour control racquet technology? I'd like to see them ratchet it back quite a bit on the pro tour, kinda like how aluminum bats are banned in MLB.

 

[King_olaf_the_hairy]

How much does the ATP tour control racquet technology? I'd like to see them ratchet it back quite a bit on the pro tour, kinda like how aluminum bats are banned in MLB.

They don't, it's the ITF. Appendix II of the Rules of Tennis (links to a pdf).

They've been very flexible in the past because as mentioned they made it easier for rec players to play tennis (and therefore to spend money on equipment, which then filtered back into the sport when racquet makers spent the extra cash on endorsements for pros and suchlike). The most famous occasion when they outright banned something was the spaghetti strings of the late 1970s after many pros complained.

 

[Lleytonstation]

1. Go to 8 Masters (cut Shanghai and Paris)
2. Make all Masters finals best of 5
3. ATP Finals rotates to all 4 surfaces but they play 1 v 8 and so on so you cant lose and still win (also best of 5 final)
4. Keep the two grass 500's but make them 750s
5. End the season in October with the ATP finals

Rules:
1. Ball toss cant be redone
2. Go back to 16 seeds
3. No toilet breaks except in between sets (limit to 5 minutes)
4. One medical TO
5. Every final in slam has NO tiebreak final set

 

[Azure]

1. Start the season late - Australia is too hot in Jan and USO gets too humid in Aug-Sept.
2. Queens should be a masters.
3. No round robin for WTF - but this is just me, I don't like the format.

Thats all.

 

[TheNachoMan]

Make doubles compulsory.

Eww.

 

[weakera]

Move Australian Open to another country

 

[FrontHeadlock]

2. Go back to 16 seeds

This is a good one.

 

[chrischris]

The obvious one :
Ditch oil companies as sponsors of events and replace them with Renewable energy companies fit for life and a good future rather than death, war, conflicts, destruction, invasions and all rest incl AGW and money chest for terror...

 

[_phantom]

1. Go to 8 Masters (cut Shanghai and Paris)
2. Make all Masters finals best of 5
3. ATP Finals rotates to all 4 surfaces but they play 1 v 8 and so on so you cant lose and still win (also best of 5 final)
4. Keep the two grass 500's but make them 750s
5. End the season in October with the ATP finals

Rules:
1. Ball toss cant be redone
2. Go back to 16 seeds
3. No toilet breaks except in between sets (limit to 5 minutes)
4. One medical TO
5. Every final in slam has NO tiebreak final set

Aren't they already in place?

Toilet Breaks Medical Time Outs | ATP Tour | Tennis

ATP has announced new rules relating to toilet breaks, attire changes to come into effect from 2022, in addition to a proposed change to the Medical Time Out rule (start date TBC).

www.atptour.com

 

[James P]

Yeah, expand grass season by a week and add a M1000. Reduce the US Open series by a week to compensate.

Wk1: 2 ATP 250s Grass
Wk2: 2 ATP 500s Grass
Wk3: 1 ATP 1000 Grass
Wk4: 2 ATP 250s Grass
Wk5/6: Wimbledon
Wk7: HoF 250 Grass

 

[l0s3]

1
All for increasing the length of the grass season but the gap in time between the French open and Wimbledon is only 2 weeks which is far to short. Wimbledon should be 3-4 weeks later and have 1 masters on grass. 2 500's.

2
WTF should go to best of 5 format to separate itself from masters tournaments. Ditch the round robin too much luck involved. Shouldnt be able to win an event whilst also losing matches. Should just be a knockout tournament based on seeding for that year. Number 1 seed faces 8th seed ect. Surfaces should be alternated yearly.

3 No more Line judges make calls fully automated.
4
Enable Court Level viewing as an option
5
Instead of changing the colour of the court on Clay like in Madrid 2012. Change the colour of the ball to blue to make spotting the ball easier on screen.

 

[Patriots]

1. Limit Award ceremony speeches to 5 minutes tops for all Majors and beat with a whip any sponsor speaker who goes overtime..
2. No more lets on serve, let 'em play
3. Move the Australian open to mid to late February, have the Asian swing now start in January.
4. Put an extra week between the French Open and Wimbledon.
5. No AD scoring in matches, THEN make them play best of five in Master finals.

 

[_phantom]

Yeah, expand grass season by a week and add a M1000. Reduce the US Open series by a week to compensate...

All for increasing the length of the grass season but the gap in time between the French open and Wimbledon is only 2 weeks which is far to short. Wimbledon should be 3-4 weeks later and have 1 masters on grass. 2 500's.

4. Put an extra week between the French Open and Wimbledon.

There used to be 2 weeks gap between RG and WB. Now they have 3.

I don't think they can push WB any further back. July is the hottest month there. Unless they finish the event by early/mid July, it will be more and more like playing on clay.

 

[puppybutts]

i just want more alternate camera views rotated into screen time. and a different ball color for RG and wimbledon.

personally I'm fine with the amount of grass as is. it's a slippery and stupid surface, it's not fun watching a quarter of the draw injure themselves and go out early.

 

[socallefty]

Give more money to lower ranked players so that at least 1000 players can make a decent living from the ATP tour. It starts with giving about 50% of tournament revenue generated to players like many American professional sports do instead of the 15% that I’ve heard the ATP does.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Strictly enforce 20 seconds between points and 10 seconds between first and second serve. Deduct a point every time they go over the time limit.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

- AO to March like last year. Play IW & Miami tournaments in the lead up (match surfaces if you like for consistency's sake)
- Grass M1000 tournament, in the lead up to Wimbledon, probably Halle to give Germany back the M1000 tournament they lost when Hamburg was demoted, plus London already has a slam so shouldn't be Queens
- Scrap the Paris indoors as Paris already hosts a slam and create an indoor season focused around the Asian market, two M1000 and the WTF. Use Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo (or if they can't use whoever else can come up with suitable indoor venues)

Davis Cup and ATP Cup to merge, it's dumb to have them both. Play it at the end of the season every four years, two years after the Olympic tournament. Play it in the current format where all nations are in the same venue at the same time to create a 'World Cup of Tennis'.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

Strictly enforce 20 seconds between points and 10 seconds between first and second serve. Deduct a point every time they go over the time limit.

Ugh no. The serve clock is so annoying and distracting.

 

[gully]

Some good ideas here, esp reducing post-USO stretch for team comp and ATP finals, making Asian events pre-AO events, and adding a grass Masters.

Don't care about errant tosses but should require lower-ranked player to change kit if same colorway as opponent.

Too late to change strings but courts can be quickened, esp indoors.

 

[nadalvamos]

Here are some suggestions:

1. Get rid of the entire post-USO swing. Once the USO ends, give a week off then follow it with Basel/Vienna and then the ATP Finals. There are way too many points on offer after the USO, and it's a pretty dreadful part of the calendar. Convert the Asian swing (China/Japan Opens and Shanghai) to pre-AO tournaments. Totally ditch the Paris Masters and reduce the number of Masters events to 8.

2. Instead of having all of the Masters be mandatory, require players to play no more than 6 of the 8 (not choose your best 6 results). That will help spread the wealth a bit.

3. Make winning titles more important. Winning tournaments, even 250s, should be paramount. In pro golf, winning a tournament comes with a 2-year exemption on the tour. The ATP should give a bit more security to those players who win an event, perhaps by giving them guaranteed entry to a certain number of events over the next 2 years, or even a stipend that is a percentage of an annual pool (your percentage would increase based on tournaments won and the level of those tournaments). That would also help with the intense pressure of having to defend a title and wild swings in rankings as a result.

4. Get rid of appearance fees. This concentrates too much $$$ into too few hands. Either eliminate these, or do something where your total appearance fee money needs to be equally spread among players not getting appearance fees. For example, if Dubai wants to pay Djokovic $500k to play, they should match that with an extra $500k spread equally among those players who aren't getting an appearance fee (or some other rule so they don't pay every player $1 as an appearance fee). If they want to pay Djokovic $750k, then an additional $750k needs to be spread around.

how about putting the ATP FINALS ON CLAY? HOW ABOUT CHANGING THE AUS OPEN INTO A CLAY COURT EVENT?

 

[Sudacafan]

Integrity. But it’s out of the question.
They are a business.

 

[Robert F]

Here are some suggestions:

1. Get rid of the entire post-USO swing. Once the USO ends, give a week off then follow it with Basel/Vienna and then the ATP Finals. There are way too many points on offer after the USO, and it's a pretty dreadful part of the calendar. Convert the Asian swing (China/Japan Opens and Shanghai) to pre-AO tournaments. Totally ditch the Paris Masters and reduce the number of Masters events to 8.

Well said.

2. Instead of having all of the Masters be mandatory, require players to play no more than 6 of the 8 (not choose your best 6 results). That will help spread the wealth a bit.

This can work for me.

3. Make winning titles more important. Winning tournaments, even 250s, should be paramount. In pro golf, winning a tournament comes with a 2-year exemption on the tour. The ATP should give a bit more security to those players who win an event, perhaps by giving them guaranteed entry to a certain number of events over the next 2 years, or even a stipend that is a percentage of an annual pool (your percentage would increase based on tournaments won and the level of those tournaments). That would also help with the intense pressure of having to defend a title and wild swings in rankings as a result.

I was thinking they should have a system where winning 250's and 500's gives you a higher seeded ranking for a Master's Tournament or Slam. Connect clay 250's and 500's to RG. If you win Halle or Queens you get a to 16 seeding in Wimby or your ranking whatever is better.

4. Get rid of appearance fees. This concentrates too much $$$ into too few hands. Either eliminate these, or do something where your total appearance fee money needs to be equally spread among players not getting appearance fees. For example, if Dubai wants to pay Djokovic $500k to play, they should match that with an extra $500k spread equally among those players who aren't getting an appearance fee (or some other rule so they don't pay every player $1 as an appearance fee). If they want to pay Djokovic $750k, then an additional $750k needs to be spread around.

Great idea, but money talks and I don't think they'll ever make this type of change.

My ideas:
1.) Take as many Time Outs/MTO's you want, but you lose a point for the first one, a game for the second one and then a set.
2.) Agree with many others need a Grass Masters
3.) Fault if you don't hit your serve toss
4.) Serve clock begins when either server or receiver gets in the ready position. Whoever gets their first can then dictate the fitness level of the match.
5.) I love deuce, but with so many people complaining how long matches are, Play at most 2 deuces (4 additional points) then deciding point
6.) Let cords should be faults, Balls after a successful serve during match play that hit the net are faults unless they bounce after the service line.
7.) Distribute the Masters and smaller tournaments in a way that build to the upcoming slams.

 

[NeutralFan]

Do away with meaningless bo3 masters and wtf post USO and introduce a new slam and a grass masters .

 

[Bartelby]

It will be another country next January, but seriously the AO is not an ATP event.

Move Australian Open to another country

 

[Bartelby]

There's only grit in integrity, and it's not true grit.

Integrity. But it’s out of the question.
They are a business.

 

[initialize]

Agree with many suggestions mentioned already. I won’t mention specific details, but these ones I would absolutely love to see:

-more grass events, especially Masters
-Stricter time enforcement between points/serves; if you go over you get point reduction
-Faster courts, even carpet
-Change AO from hardcourt to carpet or even plastic
-Stricter grunting regulations
-Get rid of linespeople and just use Hawkeye

 

[timnz]

Return season end finals - final match to best of five. For most of its history it was that way.

Adjust the overcompensation from 90's fast courts to slow courts to true medium paced courts rather than the majority being slow courts nowdays (and with 3 out of the 4 slams being on slow courts and 1 slam being medium paced).

 

[MadariKatu]

Foxtenn over hawkeye.
Blue balls on clay and grass.
Paris should not be a masters1000.
A masters1000 on grass. Halle? Not my favourite surface, but I think it'd be fair, and would add variety.
Unless very windy conditions, ball tossed, ball played, or fault.
No BYE.

 

[TimHenmanATG]

A lot of the most logical changes can't happen because tennis is steeped in history and tradition.

I'm not complaining, as I personally enjoy the traditional element to the sport.

However, we need to be aware that any major scheduling changes have to operate within these constraints.

 

[DSH]

Strictly enforce 20 seconds between points and 10 seconds between first and second serve. Deduct a point every time they go over the time limit.

And if the rally is long, should there be an exception then?

 

[Ray Mercer]

- Speed up several of the hardcourt tournaments including the US Open to offer more surface diversity and give hitters more of a punchers chance

- The addition of a grass Masters 1000

- Best of 5 sets in Masters 1000 finals

- I’d like to analyze the finances of a journeyman tennis player to see how life could be made easier for them. Perhaps have the tournaments provide accommodations/lodging, transportation excluding flights and meal allowances for all players.

 

[Bud]

One serve, no ad, no let, BO5 finals in all tournaments.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

Wimbledon to be changed from grass to clay/Different kind of hard court.
Of course it will never happen because of the tradition blah blah blah... But a grass grand slam makes no sense in the current scenario and it is unlikely to make sense going forward either. Almost every kid learning tennis today is doing so either on clay or hard court.

 

[Bartelby]

This would create a Year Zero for tennis records.

One serve, no ad, no let, BO5 finals in all tournaments.

 

[darthrafa]

serve in court despite hitting net cord can continue