Details of the Too Long Season

Is the professional tennis season too long? The obvious answer is yes. But let's go over some of the details of why.

Tennis is one of the few global sports that runs almost year-round. The tours span nearly the entire calendar, leaving players with little downtime to rest, recover, and recalibrate.

While fans may enjoy non-stop tennis,, the players' grueling schedules raise significant concerns, particularly with the extra demands of major tournaments like the Masters 1000s, WTA Premier events, and the four Grand Slams.

Top players have voiced opinions on this, including four-time Grand Slam champion, Carlos Alcaraz, who recently relayed his lack of motivation to compete ahead of the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.

"Sometimes I don't feel motivated at all," Alcaraz said. "The calendar is so tight—a lot of tournaments, no days off, or not as many days off as I want."

He then added a thought few people say out loud, "The calendar will kill us (the players) in some way." Those are ominous words from a 20 year old superstar.

The ATP and WTA tours begin in early January with warm-up tournaments ahead of the Australian Open. From there, the season extends through November with the ATP Finals and WTA Finals as the last events.

That's not to mention the two-week Paris Olympics tournament dropped in between Wimbledon and the US Open this year, which clearly had an impact.

Out of the four men's Olympics semifinalists, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Lorenzo Musetti, and Felix Auger-Alliasime, all lost at the Open before the fourth round.

Another unavoidable fact is the increase in injuries. Jannik Sinner (hip), Carlos Alcaraz (wrist), Novak Djokovic (knee), and Alex de Minaur (hip) have all missed important tournaments.

What about the official "off-season" in December. While this might seem like ample time for rest, recovery, and preparation, many players train hard during this period and play lucrative exhibitions.

2021 Olympic Gold Medalist Alexander Zverev has said the ATP season is "the longest in the sport" and that there are "an unnecessary number of tournaments."

By comparison, other major sports like the NFL, NBA, or European football leagues have more clearly defined off-seasons where athletes can rest and reset. Tennis players, however, face non-stop travel and competition across different continents, surfaces, and time zones.

A major factor here is the mandatory events that top players must compete in to maintain their rankings.

On the ATP tour, the nine Masters 1000 events are mandatory stops for the top players. These events are spread out throughout the year, ensuring that players are constantly travelling and competing in high-stakes tournaments. For WTA players, the Premier events play a similar role, with several required tournaments that determine rankings and standings.

Then there is the major pressure of the four Grand Slam tournaments—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open—each requiring a two-week commitment and five sets for the men.

All this is time-consuming and physically and mentally exhausting. For example, a player may compete in a grueling two-week Grand Slam, only to have a short recovery period before needing to fly to another country to compete in another event.

Case in point, this year's Paris Olympics only gave Carlos Alcaraz two weeks to recover from his Wimbledon title and only five days to prepare for the Cincinnati Masters event after his gold medal match against Novak Djokovic.

The fact that both Alcaraz and Djokovic went out early at the U.S. Open wasn't a surprise when you consider their schedules. Sinner, meanwhile, opted to skip the Paris Olympics entirely to focus on the North American hard court swing. That paid off.

Was it surprising when Djokovic went out at the Open?

The number of events has also been steadily increasing over the last few decades. In 1984, there were 50 tournaments on the professional calendar, compared with 68 in 2024. That's a 36% increase in around 40 years.

Some players are now openly campaigning for a change in the schedule, for example, Stefanos Tsitsipas. "We're on the edge of a tennis revolution, one driven by the players," Tsitsipas said.

"It's not just about avoiding injuries. It's about keeping players in the game longer. Less wear and tear means more years of top-level tennis, stronger rivalries, and better matches," he has said.

Optimistic words, but the future could dispel these predictions.

It all takes a toll on players. Athletes face burnout, injuries, and mental fatigue due to the relentless schedule. Injuries like stress fractures, muscle tears, and tendonitis are now common.

Players are expected to perform at their peak across the season, from the hard courts of Australia to the clay courts of Roland Garros, the grass of Wimbledon, and the hard courts of the US Open.

And let's remember how different this is than the pre-Open era. There were far fewer tournaments. 3 of the 4 majors were played on grass—much easier on the body.

Plus the rackets were wood strung with gut, not the superhard modern graphite frames and polyester strings. Serve and volley points predominated, not endless power topspin baseline rallies.

For players outside the top 10 or 20 but within the top 100, the pressure to maintain rankings at lower-tier events makes the season even more daunting.

In recent years, there have been many calls from players for a more balanced schedule. Top athletes like Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Serena Williams have openly discussed the need for a more manageable calendar that allows for rest and extends careers.

Even younger players like Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu have taken breaks from the sport, citing mental health and physical well-being as reasons for stepping away from the demands of the tour.

But there are powerful commercial and financial reasons why the tennis season remains so long. With lucrative TV rights, sponsorship deals, and growing global interest in the sport, tournaments have continued to proliferate, especially in emerging markets like China, the Middle East, and South America.

Tournament organizers, sponsors, and the governing bodies are under pressure to maintain an extensive calendar to maximize revenue. And for lower-ranked players, a long season is crucial for earning prize money, sponsorships, and improving their rankings, leaving them with little choice but to participate in as many events as possible.

Then there is Laver Cup...

Without meaningful changes, we risk seeing more players succumb to burnout, injuries, and career-shortening pressures, leaving the sport poorer. But leaving the forces that really call the shots ever and ever richer. Yes the tour "needs" to change. The reality is that is highly unlikely and it's more likely to get more crowded than less.

Details of the Too Long Season

Sean A'Hearn