Novak Djokovic's incredible season has finally taken its toll
Another year, another debate about the tennis schedule. The pontifications and proliferations over how much tennis the world's leading players are forced to play is an annual exercise that rears its ugly head almost like clockwork. The US Open finishes, the four grand slams are complete, and yet the players have to keep playing. Not fair, they say.
Do they have a point?
The rules of the Association of Tennis Professionals, the ATP, require that men ranked in the top 30 in the world must play: the four Grand Slams, eight of the nine Masters 1000 events (Monte Carlo is optional) and four of the 11 ATP 500 events. If they feel so inclined, they can add another two ATP 500 or ATP 250 events on top of that. And if they are among the world's best eight players at the end of the season, add the Barclays ATP World Tour finals onto that. Which brings us to the round figure of 18 or 19 tournaments in a calendar year.
Of course, that could well be 18 or 19 first rounds. That's akin to a jog in the park. But if you are Novak Djokovic, or an aspirant Djokovic, you are in line for up to seven matches at a slam, up to five or six at a Masters 1000, up to five at an ATP 500, and at least three, up to five at the World Tour Finals. Multiply all those by 19, and that's a lot of matches.
And, add Davis Cup, and exhibitions, and you've got even more matches.
Not only that, it's also worth taking into account where all these various tussles take place. Djokovic again is the obvious example, somewhat ironic considering that he is one of the few players yet to jump on the complaints bandwagon, although he did have a word or two to say about the length of the season last year. And is now injured.
This has been his year so far…
December 31 Fly from Belgrade to Perth
January 1-8 Hopman Cup, Perth – 3 matches
January 17-31 Australian Open, Melbourne – 7 matches
Fly from Melbourne to Belgrade, then Belgrade to Dubai
February 21-28 ATP 500, Dubai – 5 matches
March 10-20 ATP Masters 1000, Indian Wells – 6 matches
Fly from Indian Wells to Bogota, Colombia, for exhibition (1 match) then to Miami
March 23 – April 10 ATP Masters 1000, Miami – 6 matches
April 25-May 1 ATP 250, Belgrade – 4 matches
May 1-8 ATP Masters 1000, Madrid, 5 matches
May 8-15 ATP Masters 1000, Rome, 5 matches
May 22-June 3 Roland Garros, Paris, 6 matches
Fly from Paris to Belgrade, then Belgrade to London
June 14-17 Boodles exhibition, 1 match
June 20-July 3 Wimbledon, London, 7 matches
Fly from London to Belgrade
Fly from Belgrade to Montreal
August 8-14 ATP Masters 1000, Montreal, 5 matches
August 14-21 ATP Masters 1000, Cincinnati, 5 matches
August 29-September 12 US Open, New York, 7 matches
Fly from New York to Belgrade
September 16-18 Davis Cup, Belgrade, 1 match
And there are still three months of the season left to run. Metz and Bucharest, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Tokyo, Shanghai, Stockholm and Moscow, Vienna and St Petersburg, Valencia and Basle, Paris, London. And the Davis Cup final.
Adam Helfant, the ATP's head honcho, who leaves at the end of this year, has brought the end of the season forward by two weeks for 2012, but that is by running Paris and London back-to-back, rather than reducing the number of events or mandatory events.
So put like that, it is a lot. Even if you do get to join every frequent flyer club in the world, all that travel, and all those matches, takes its toll. Add to that the fact that the women's tour requires only 10 mandatory events rather than 12 (on top of the four Slams), and finishes a whole month earlier, it's no wonder the gents are feeling a little hard done-by.
But, there are also reasons why they shouldn't be.
1. They choose to play exhibitions and more events. Rafael Nadal, for example, did not need to play Barcelona, Monte Carlo, or Queen's. It's great for those tournaments that he did. But he didn't have to.
2. They asked for Davis Cup to be moved the week after the grand slams. In October 2006, Nadal, along with 17 of the top 20 players, including Roger Federer and Andy Roddick lobbied for the move, the ITF agreed, and from 2009, that is how it has been.
3. They don't get fined for missing events. They lose ranking points.
4. What they complain about may not be such a problem for the lowly-ranked. How many tournaments does a journeyman pro need to play to break even? A lot, I imagine.
5. Would the likes of Nadal and co be where they are now if they hadn't been able to play as many tournaments in the past and crank up the points? Who knows.
6. Would the sport be able to pay them in prize and appearance money if there weren't so many events? Probably not.
Admittedly, this year's debate has been rather more furious than usual. The debacle that was the US Open didn't help – the weather, the courts, the misinformation and miscommunication all were less than ideal.
It has also been fuelled by the chipping in of various ex-pros to either agree or disagree. Michael Stich, who played 99 singles & 54 doubles matches in the year he won Wimbledon in 1991, has launched himself in like the Hindenburg.
“I think the players forget that all the tournaments out there provide them with jobs," he said. "They are not playing more than 10 or 15 years ago. It’s just like they are running after exhibitions, they are trying to make more money and don’t even fulfil their commitments to the smaller tournaments sometimes. Murray doesn’t even play four rounds of Davis Cup throughout the year. Perhaps they need to look out for their bodies and pick their tournaments better?”
In response to Herr Stich, it has to be recognised that today's tennis is far more physical than yesterday's. Of that there can be no doubt. But is that enough reason for the current state of hullabaloo?
The elephant in the room, of course, is how to fix it. Reduce the number of mandatory events for the top dogs? Lop off a week here and there? Change the rankings system? The upcoming players' meeting in Shanghai aims to provide a one-size-fits-all solution. We shall have to wait and see if it can.
