Alexander Zverev calls on ATP to 'find a solution' to packed tennis calendar

Previously, Indian Wells and the Miami Open were the only Masters 1000 events which were held over the extended format, with the events holding a longstanding spot in the ATP Tour calendar.

However, recent changes have seen seven of the nine Masters events move to a 10 or 12-day run time, with only the Monte Carlo Masters and Paris Indoors remaining one week in length.

The debate regarding the change has continually attracted attention and has been the key talking point surrounding the ongoing Canadian Open in 2025.

Starting just two weeks after Wimbledon, a key group of big stars have pulled out of the event in 2025, including Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic.

World No 3 Zverev, a seven-time Masters 1000 champion, is the top seed in Toronto this year.

However, speaking on Nothing Major, the 28-year-old revealed his preference for shorter Masters 1000 tournaments, and claimed the calendar had become too crowded due to the format change and the increase in mandatory tournaments.

He said: "You have the nine Masters 1000 events, which are mandatory; most of them are two-week-long events now, except Monte-Carlo and Paris Bercy.

"Which I think are the best two weeks now on the ATP calendar. I think for a fan and every single tennis player, Paris Bercy was awesome last year.

"I mean, I won it, which was even more awesome for me, but you get there, you play your five matches, and you get out of there.

"You do not have to stick around or practice in between matches. That is how Masters events used to be and I think all the players loved it.

"Now the ATP has made four mandatory 500 events for you to play, which used to be three, now it's four. So you don't get under 20 events except if you are pulling out of the big events."

Zverev is not the only player to be critical of the change and the increase in mandatory events, with world No 4 Taylor Fritz also critical of the tennis schedule in recent weeks.

The tennis calendar is now close to 11 months in length, and there was only a month in between the official end of the 2024 season, and the start of the 2025 campaign.

Zverev believes that the two-week Masters events have been a key cause of this, and called for the ATP to "really think about" a potential change back to one-week events.

He added: "I am not a fan of where this is going, because if you take Alex de Minaur, for example. He played his last match at Davis Cup on the 25th November, and he played his first match of the United Cup on the 27th December.

"So you have a month of off-season. How are you going to take two weeks off and prepare your body for a new season? You donâ™t have the time to do those things any more.

"I think this is one subject where the ATP has to really think about it and find a solution about it, and to be honest, I have not heard a single player say that they love the two-week Masters events. I don't even think the fans like that.

"They don't like waiting for two days for their favourite player to play again. I understand tennis is a business, but I am not sure that business plan is working very well right now."

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