ATP Tennis Schedule: Reduce the Obligations, Reschedule Master's Cup

A great majority of people agree that the tennis season is too taxing. As Andy Roddick commented recently, there just isn't enough of an off-season for the players to rest and train.

There is no easy solution here. This is so, mainly because there are so many interests involved: the players, the fans, the business, and more. Coming up with a solution will inevitably hurt at least one of those interests, in varying degrees. It would be unfair, for example, to cut tournaments just because the players think there are too many.

With that said, how about reducing the number of tournaments a player is required to play each year? The current obligation is 18 tournaments. That's a lot. Over a year, that's one tournament less than every three weeks. Not counting the meagre off season, it's actually one tournament about every two and a half weeks.

Two and a half weeks is hardly enough time, given the travelling, resting, training and preparing the players probably have to do in order to get ready for a tournament. It is far from being an optimal schedule to help ensure that a player is at his best.

I think that the number of required tournaments must be reduced a great deal. I would say, down to 11 or 12 per year. This averages out to around one tournament per month. Over time, I think this would make a big difference in the wear and tear of the players. That way, if a player wants to play more tournaments to increase his ranking, or because he's a workaholic, it's on HIM to do so, not because the Tour is making him.

A player may consider varying the locations he plays at also. That way, the fans won't get to miss out on seeing their favorite player forever. For example, if Bangkok didn't get to see Rafael Nadal play one year, he may consider playing there the following year. 

This brings me to the fall schedule. Certainly, I wouldn't advocate the unfair option of cutting it out entirely. That said, by the time the U.S. Open is over, the players are already talking about how there year WAS. Not how there year is, but how it WAS. In their minds, the season is practically over, for better or for worse. The tour pretty much slogs on afterwards.

I think it should be mandatory to play in the fall season, as it would be unfair to cut that season out entirely. But the requirement for this season should be at most one or two fall tournaments. For the top eight who have qualified for the Master's Cup, that should be the only tournament they should be asked to play.

Remember that they got to where they are because they have played much more tennis throughout the year than most of the players ranked below them. Remember also that the loudest complaints have been from two players who have played the Masters Cup fairly often: Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick. If possible, this tournament should be scheduled much closer to the U.S. Open so that these eight great players arrive fresher at the tournament than they would in November.

We are tennis fans, but I think we'd rather see the players play at their best than not. Reducing the number of required tournaments can help ensure an optimal schedule for each player to play their best, with adequate rest in between. Then, if they want to play more tournaments, it would be up to them, not up to the ATP to force them.