Novak Djokovic had to retire from an important Davis Cup match against Juan Martin Del Potro last weekend. He had already complained about back pain during the US Open and according to media sources he now partially ruptured a back muscle, which may force him to miss the Masters in Shanghai next month and possibly more tournaments!
It appears like more and more players are getting injured these days, especially at the
end of a long season. The players want a shorter season but the organizations
in charge have not taken action yet. Lately the word strike has been thrown
into the discussion!
Let’s have a look at the arguments for and against a shorter season:
Arguments For Shortening The Season:
1. The Game Is Physically More Demanding
The tennis played these days is a different game compared to even just 10 years ago. The
great champion Andre Agassi said in an interview that the game has evolved a lot and he doubts that he would be able to compete with the top guys, even in his best form from back in the days!
2. Nobody enjoys watching tired and unmotivated players!
The top players get hefty appearance fees at the smaller tournaments yet oftentimes
they appear unmotivated because they are either tired or the tournament is not
lucrative enough to them in terms of ranking points. So as a result you have a
tournament paying a lot of money for a player that ends up playing
semi-motivated. This is just not a good situation in my opinion!
3. People Can Get Tired Of Too Much Tennis!
Most other sports have a much shorter season giving fans a chance to get really excited again about the upcoming season. With Tennis there is always a tournament going on the off-season is almost non-existent. Here in Germany Tennis was televised almost 24/7 during the era of Boris Becker and Steffi Graf. Soon people got really tired of watching
Tennis. I believe you have to make it special and shortening the season would be a step in the right direction!
Arguments Against Shortening The Season:
1. Players In The Past Played As Much And Often Played Doubles As Well
I read a comment from former Wimbledon Champion Michael Stich the other day, saying that he is against shortening the season because players in the past had to play the
same amount and guys like himself and Edberg played doubles on a regular basis
as well. I can see his argument but I do not think it is valid in this case. If you look at the Tennis back then it was so much slower and therefore less demanding on the body.
2. Smaller Tournaments Will Suffer And/Or Disappear
The great thing about the tennis calendar and schedule is that people from all over the
world get a chance to see their favourite players in action, since the tour
travels around the whole globe. Some tournaments would definitely suffer from
shortening the season and some tournaments would disappear. This would definitely be a shame but I believe that this is a necessary evil and would be the best thing for the sport at this point!
3. Players Participate In Exhibition Events
Some people argue that players like Nadal and Federer play in exhibitions and therefore
cannot be overplayed.
Exhibitions are a lot different though. It is only one match and they do not have the intensity of a regular tournament where money and ranking points are on the line. I am sure the players would agree to limit the amount of exhibitions they play in case the season was shortened as well.
Conclusion:
I believe the ATP needs to act and shorten the season. The game is incredibly physical
these days and players are getting injured a lot. It is of course the top
players that have the biggest problem because they usually play 4-5 matches
every week, whereas many of the lesser ranked players only play 1-2 matches per
week.
There is no way around this problem in my opinion and the ATP needs to
think about protecting the top players, who are the ones bringing in the money
at the end of the day!
My Suggestions:
1. Play Davis Cup Every Other Year For Two Weeks
The way it is now the Davis Cup is really not that big of a thing in Tennis anymore. The top players only play it occasionally when they are not too tired and it fits their schedule. I believe the Davis Cup could become big again if the format was changed to something
similar to Golf, where it is held only every other year and the whole event is
held over the course of two weeks for example.
This is something that the ITF would have to decide in conjunction with the ATP. It is always difficult to make those kinds of changes because there are a lot of politics and interests involved but I am certain it would be beneficial for the sport in the long run.
Competitions where nations compete against each other are always really emotional and intense. If Tennis could create a system where guys like Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic would compete in top form for their country in front of a huge audience I believe it would be awesome for the fans!
2. Give The Players At Least Two Full Months Off
The way the schedule is now the top players finish their season with the Barclays World Tour Finals Around November 27th. The first tournaments to prepare for the Australian Open start at the beginning of January. Essentially this leaves them with four weeks to recover and prepare for the upcoming season. I think that this is not nearly enough!
In my opinion, the calendar should be shortened so that players finish at the end of October, leaving them with 8 weeks to fully recover from injuries and prepare for the new season. Tennis would still have a very long season of 10 months and I am sure fans would still get to see enough Tennis; and in this case good Tennis with fit players!
3. Reduce Mandatory Events
I don’t understand why any tournament other than the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 events should be mandatory for the top players. Of course it is about money and supporting the other tournaments. The top players are the ones playing 4-5 matches every week though and they need to be able to decide when to take a break from these smaller tournaments!
