ATP Continues to Try to Shorten Its Calendar

Written by: Staff on 7th October 2010

ATP Continues to Try to Shorten Its Calendar

Rafael Nadal (ESP) |

When the WTA shortened its season to finish in early November, some tournaments fell by the wayside. The most prominent was the Zurich tournament, previously a Tier 1 event. Stuttgart, one of the most popular stops on the tour, was moved from October to the end of April and changed from hardcourt to indoor clay.

The ATP is also now seeking to make the season shorter by three weeks. But no doubt still smarting from the fallout of an earlier changing of the schedule which resulted in a still ongoing legal challenge from Hamburg and a strong protest from the historic Monte Carlo Masters event, no tournaments will be sacrificed, according to ATP chief Adam Helfant.

“Not one event will be scrapped in our plan to create a more meaningful off-season for our players,” he declared at the Japan Open in Tokyo. “We have circulated a draft calendar to our membership but no event will be cancelled in the efforts to shorten the season, which currently can last up to 11 months. If we’re successful we will have created an additional two or three weeks of rest at the end of the season. I’m pleased with our progress. We hope to be able to make a decision on the 2012-2013 season by the end of this year.”

That would be welcomed by the players, but Helfant may be less successful in banning players from taking part in exhibition events, as he wants to do, during the period that is set aside for rest and recuperation. Often, players who have complained about having to play too many tournaments in too long a season then chase exhibition dollars during the close season, some justifying the move by claiming the events involve less pressure than Tour matches.

Topics: Atp, Chase, Draft Calendar, Early November, Exhibition Events, Fallout, Hamburg, Hardcourt, Japan, Legal Challenge, Monte Carlo Masters, No Doubt, Protest, Recuperation, Tier 1, Tokyo, Wayside, Wta, Zurich

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