Grueling Tennis: How to Fix the ATP/WTA Calendar?

The Professional Tennis Season: A Grueling Schedule

The 2024 professional tennis season officially concluded on December 22nd, with Joao Fonseca’s victory over Learner Tien at the ATP Next Gen Finals in Saudi Arabia. The 2025 season began on December 27th with the United Cup in Australia. Fonseca and Tien returned to the courts on December 30th in tournaments in Australia and Hong Kong, respectively.

I don’t know how the ’25 season starts in ’24. It’s a joke.

Jordan Thompson, US Open 2024 doubles champion

The short break between sanctioned events highlights the physical and mental demands faced by professional tennis players. The brevity between the Billie Jean King Cup, the Davis Cup, and the United Cup, along with the WTA and ATP Finals in mid-November, intensifies the pressure. The length of the season and the itinerant nature of the circuit have been a constant source of complaint among players, but the situation has worsened in recent years. Alex de Minaur attributed his early exit from the French Open to feeling “exhausted.” Iga Swiatek criticized the demands of the “super-intense” calendar and was unable to participate in a Billie Jean King Cup qualifier in the spring. At the China Open, five of the twelve scheduled matches ended with retirements during the game. Several players, such as Frances Tiafoe, Danielle Collins, Jack Draper, and Daria Kasatkina, ended their seasons early this year due to injuries and mental fatigue.

The truth is that I’ve hit a wall and can’t continue. I need a break. A break from the monotonous daily routine of life on the circuit, the suitcases, the results, the pressure, the same faces (sorry, girls), everything that this life entails. The calendar is too much, mentally and emotionally I’m at a breaking point and, unfortunately, I’m not alone.

Daria Kasatkina

The conversation about the length and intensity of the tennis season will continue as players prepare for the 2026 season. The key question is: Will there be changes in the near future?

Taylor Fritz’s 2024 season was outstanding. He reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open. He won two ATP titles, reached four finals (including the ATP Finals), won an Olympic bronze medal in doubles with Tommy Paul, and reached a career-high ranking of number 4. However, the celebration was brief. The success extended its season, with invitations to the year-end ATP Finals and the Davis Cup final.

There is no preseason, and if you’re a top player, you actually have less preseason.

Taylor Fritz

For Fritz, this meant only three weeks between the end of his 2024 season and the start of the 2025 season. He returned home at the end of November and had to travel to Australia on December 21st. Fritz pointed out that, during that time, it is necessary to train, so one week is for rest and the rest for preparation. He considers it absurd to have only one week of rest a year.

Many players take advantage of this time to implement technical or personnel changes, which makes it a crucial period. The question is whether this is more important than resting and recovering after a physically demanding season. For some, the preseason, however brief, is one of the few moments they can spend at home, especially for Australians who spend most of the season living out of suitcases.

When I go back to Australia, I just want to go to the beach, relax, take two weeks off from the rackets. But I still have to do a lot of physical work to stay in shape. It’s literally three weeks before going back to tournament mode. You can’t afford any slip-ups with that amount of free time physically.

Jordan Thompson

Novak Djokovic, 38 years old, only played the main events this summer, skipping the ATP tournaments in June, July, and August to prioritize winning his 25th Grand Slam title and spending time with his family. However, he finds himself in a privileged situation. He has expressed that he is not concerned about his ranking at this stage of his career, and with over $190 million in prize money, finances are not a concern. The circuits require players to participate in a certain number of tournaments each year. ATP players must play the four Grand Slams, eight Masters 1000 level events, and five 500 level tournaments. WTA players must also participate in the Grand Slams, in addition to 10 1000 level tournaments and six 500 level events. Seven of the 1000 level tournaments now last 12 days, with several recently extended from one week. A player can be excused from a major or 1000-level tournament due to injury, but if a WTA player does not meet the threshold of six tournaments for 500-level events, ranking points will be deducted. Aryna Sabalenka and Swiatek, as well as other top-ten players, lost points at the end of the 2024 season for not participating in the required number of tournaments. Swiatek, who had been playing in one of the matches shortened by injury at the China Open in September, blamed the schedule after Camila Osorio, her opponent, retired after the first set. She told reporters that she would probably “have to choose some tournaments and skip them, even if they are mandatory” in the future.

The WTA, with all these mandatory rules, made it quite crazy for us. I don’t think any top player can achieve this, playing all six 500 tournaments. It’s simply impossible to fit it into the calendar.

Iga Swiatek

Swiatek lost in her next match and reached the quarterfinals in Wuhan before failing to advance from the group stage at the WTA Finals. The WTA and others in the sport have repeatedly pointed to extended 1000-level tournaments as part of how prize money equality could be ensured in tournaments with their male counterparts.

I always hear shouts for more prize money, more prize money and this is what the circuit has to [do] — to increase the prize money, they had to extend the duration of these tournaments.

Anne Keothavong

Gauff agreed with that argument, but said it was “impossible” to meet all the requirements in a given year.

I guess from a business point of view, it might make sense, but from a player health point of view, I really don’t agree with that. Basically, I’ve played as much tennis as I can and it’s impossible to keep up with all six 500s. It’s just impossible.

Coco Gauff

Gauff played in three 500-level tournaments in 2025, as did Sabalenka, Swiatek, and Anisimova. Keys played in four. However, that didn’t result in fewer matches. Swiatek played in 80 matches this season, leading the circuit. Sabalenka appeared in 76, Gauff in 65, Anisimova in 63, and Keys in 53. The condition of the top players was on display at the Shanghai Masters in October. Many complained about the brutal heat and humidity and others felt the weight of the long season. Carlos Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament began due to a left ankle injury. Jannik Sinner retired from his third-round match due to cramps. Djokovic vomited during his second-round match and needed treatment for a back injury during his semi-final defeat. The final featured Valentin Vacherot, then ranked 204th in the world and ninth alternate in the qualifying phase, against his cousin Arthur Rinderknech, then ranked 40th. An incredible story, no doubt, but perhaps not the title clash that the ATP was hoping for at one of its flagship events.

The ATP announced that it would add another Masters 1000 level tournament to its calendar starting in 2028, in Saudi Arabia. This will raise the total number in the category to 10, with nine of them mandatory. (Monte Carlo remains an optional event.) It is not clear when the tournament will take place, nor whether women will be included. The French Open, the Australian Open, and the US Open have added an extra day of play to the main draws in recent years, changing the start day from Monday to Sunday. Several players expressed their opposition in New York this year when the US Open implemented it for the first time.

I’m really not a fan of that. I don’t know why they had to make it even longer. Well, I know why they did it: they can sell tickets for an extra day.

Jessica Pegula

Brad Stine, Tommy Paul’s coach, acknowledges that the debate about the length of the season is not new. He has been a coach at the professional level since 1990 and has heard it all over the years. While Stine believes that the ATP and WTA should get rid of the “mandatory” distinction in tournaments and ensure one or two weeks of rest after each Grand Slam, he also believes that players should be less “paranoid” about losing ranking points and skipping tournaments whenever they feel they need a break.

Nobody is forced to play. You can take time off whenever you want to take time off.

Brad Stine

Furthermore, he believes that many of the players undermine their concerns by playing in the lucrative exhibitions during the off-season or other breaks in the schedule.

There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of players looking to play in those events. Some of them are the players who are in favor of a shorter season. ‘We need more breaks, we need a shorter season.’ But then, when they are given the opportunity to have time off, they choose to play more events.

Brad Stine

Alcaraz, one of the most vocal defenders of the need for a shorter season, played in the lucrative Six Kings Slam in October and is scheduled to play in several other exhibition events in December, including in New York, Newark and Miami. He was quick to dismiss the correlation.

It’s a different format, a different situation playing exhibitions than official tournaments, 15, 16 days in a row, having so much concentration and demanding physically. We’re just having fun for one or two days and playing tennis, and that’s great, and that’s why we choose exhibitions.

Carlos Alcaraz

While it seems that most players believe that something has to change, the details present a challenge.

It just needs to be shortened. It’s too much.

Taylor Fritz

Fritz added that he didn’t believe any changes were coming.

I don’t think they’re listening to us. I think you have Carlos, me, and Sasha [Zverev], so three of the top four players in the world saying that it just needs to be shortened, and there’s really been no conversation about the change.

Taylor Fritz

And it’s not that simple. While it might seem logical, for example, to end the season after the US Open with the year-end finals shortly after, that leaves 12 WTA and 13 ATP tournaments (plus the Billie Jean King Cup, the Davis Cup and the Laver Cup) currently on the books without a place on the calendar. Host organizations and cities pay a premium license fee to host each event, with prices varying depending on the level of the tournament, and they typically sign multi-year agreements to do so. While the changes have been few and far between, there have been some. The Billie Jean King Cup final, played in November last year and in recent seasons, was moved to September to allow for a longer off-season for WTA players this year. It was also held in Shenzhen, China, for the first time, allowing many players to play smoothly on the Asian tour immediately afterwards. (However, the playoffs to determine the qualifying teams for the 2026 tournament will take place from November 14-16 and will feature 21 countries). The Davis Cup maintained its previous schedule and is scheduled to begin on November 18 in Bologna, Italy, and conclude on November 23. There have been discussions about more significant changes. In 2024, the four Grand Slams initiated initial conversations for a “Premier Tour”, with an annual calendar that would consist of the majors, approximately 10 more events, and a year-end final. In response, the WTA and ATP proposed a similar version of the idea to the Slams, in an effort to “restructure the sport”, in the spring of this year. That plan would also include the four majors, 10 level 1000 events, 17 level 500 events for the WTA and 16 for the ATP, and a reduction of level 250 tournaments through the repurchase of licenses. Ultimately, it would decrease the number of tournaments between the two organizations from 118 to approximately 75. But the WTA and ATP failed to convince the Grand Slams of the idea, in part due to the proposed board structure to oversee the new venture. But while drastically transforming the sport might be off the table, for now at least, there are other, smaller ways to address the problem. Former world number 1 Andy Roddick contemplated moving the order of events in the autumn calendar on a recent episode of his podcast “Served”.

Why [ATP 250 level tournaments like the Nordic Open and the European Open] can’t exist after the World Tour finals? Why can’t we have a wrap-around season where these [250s] last a month [before the new year]? [If] more players want more opportunities, great, then go and do it. And then the top players, if they choose to play Six Kings or some other exhibition, then they can no longer complain that the calendar is too long because it’s not crammed in the middle of the year. [As it is] they have to fill some space. They have to play something before the World Tour Finals. If it ends in the second half of November, something has to give. We have to aim to finish before November 1st.

Andy Roddick

The WTA and ATP are no strangers to the complaints and concerns of their players. In a statement provided to ESPN, the WTA called the well-being of athletes a “top priority” and said that the organization is in constant communication with players, including through the players’ council and representatives on the WTA Board. The organization added that it was “committed to keeping [the] tour structure under review”. When asked for comment, the ATP directed ESPN to an August interview with chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. In it, Gaudenzi called the schedule “complex” but said an ATP goal was to “extend the off-season.” However, he added that the ATP was one of many professional tennis organizing bodies with a say over the schedule and emphasized the individual nature of tennis.

One player could be out in the first round, another is lifting the trophy after the final. Finding a solution that works for both ends of that spectrum is never simple, and a calendar cannot be built around a single cohort of players. All cohorts must be considered.

Andrea Gaudenzi

But it is clear that, no matter how separated the players and the factual powers may seem to be in the calendar, the current situation is precarious at best. Djokovic, who spent several years on the ATP player council and founded the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) in 2020, has long been a fierce critic of the current and evolving calendar and, according to his estimation, has been speaking out against it for “more than 15 years.” But even he acknowledged that it is a “very complex” issue when asked about it before the Shanghai Masters event in October. Ultimately, he said that if the players wanted to see a change, they would simply have to do more and learn the various layers of the tennis ecosystem.

In the end, as a player and someone who has been playing at the highest level for more than 20 years, I can say that the players are not united enough. Players are not participating enough when they should be. Then they make comments and complain, and then they leave… But you have to invest the time, you have to invest energy yourself… to understand how the system works, to understand what are the things that can be done to be reversed, to be improved in terms of the interests of the players.

Novak Djokovic

Djokovic added that speaking in the media and making comments can generate energy and attention, but in the end, nothing will change.