Carl Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, two leading figures in men’s tennis, have expressed their displeasure with the two-week format for Masters 1000 events. Players have raised concerns such as declining performance quality, increased injury risks, reduced rest and training time and recovery opportunities and disruption in routine. These changes have caused great discontentment among their respective athlete communities.
Novak Djokovic stands in stark contrast to this sentiment, having not entered any tournament since Wimbledon and speaking out at a press conference prior to the US Open about his diminished enthusiasm for two-week Masters events (he no longer attends them personally), Djokovic stated his opinion of these extended tournaments (it now feels like 12 Grand Slam tournaments which decrease motivation to pursue ranking points outside these four majors), by bluntly asserting, “To be honest with you I only play Slams anymore!” He concluded his statement by declaring his total lack of participation (“to be honest I don’t have any schedule other than Slams; that is just plain truth”. Djokovic concluded his thoughts by saying simply, “To be fair with you I don’t enjoy two week master events anymore – I only play Slams!”
Djokovic acknowledged the legitimate grievances raised against the new Masters format from players; however, he does not anticipate a rollback to previous schedules. Djokovic highlighted a perceived lack of collective effort on part of players during decision-making processes to influence decisions; many only participated as spectators to negotiations or discussions that may have altered decisions more positively than previously. “I support players but when negotiations and decision making occurred…they weren’t participating enough in those processes”, according to Djokovic who stressed proactiveness when making these matters more efficiently.
As this situation brings tension into the tennis community, with tension between player welfare and commercial aspects of tennis being clear, discord over schedule changes seems to show an unease that transcends personal preferences – touching upon athlete welfare issues as well as future directions of professional tennis. With US Open approaching quickly this dissonance represents growing concern that goes far beyond individual preferences to encompass athlete wellbeing issues as well as professional tennis’ future direction.