What is the future of the tennis calendar?<\/p>\n
At the ATP Tour Finals<\/a> last week, tour chairman Andrea Gaudenzi<\/a> spoke in depth about the much-discussed tennis schedule<\/a>. Gaudenzi\u2019s extension of the ATP (and by association WTA) 1,000-level tournaments has come in for heavy criticism from players and fans through the year.<\/p>\n Gaudenzi defended the change in Turin. \u201cIf you look at the top-line revenue, that I cannot disclose, it\u2019s going really up high. It\u2019s changing a lot,\u201d he said. The financial improvements for players are undeniable, but their complaints revolve around the lack of downtime created by adding 15 \u201con the road\u201d days to their calendars.<\/p>\n Gaudenzi also stressed that, apart from the Grand Slams, the ATP Masters 1000s should be what all the top players strive to compete in. He argued that those players should not be playing \u2018down\u2019 at 250-level events, but those events, as well as 500-level events outside of the mandatory four per year, can be popular with players because they can come with hefty appearance fees.<\/p>\n For players lower down the pyramid, ATP 250 and ATP 500 tournaments are also vital routes toward qualifying for these expanded ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, as well as for the main draws of Grand Slams. They offer a trajectory toward the top of the sport, while being hugely popular events with tennis fans all over the world, especially in places which don\u2019t get to host the biggest tournaments.<\/p>\n Gaudenzi wants there to be fewer of them, with 10 weeks of 250-level tournaments (with more than one per week.)<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last few years, we\u2019ve had the strategy to reduce the number of 250s. We are from 38 down to, I don\u2019t remember exactly the number, I think it\u2019s 29. [30]<\/p>\n \u201cThe target in our effort to optimize the calendar for 2028, when the new Saudi Masters will come on board, is to continue to reduce the number of 250s,\u201d Gaudenzi said.<\/p>\n Streamlining the calendar with fewer low-level events was foundational to the so-called \u201cPremium Tour\u201d put forward by the Grand Slams in 2023 and 2024, as well as the ATP and WTA\u2019s proposal for a restructuring of the calendar in March, which was dismissed by the slams. The plan pledged to cut the number of ATP and WTA tournaments, including the four Grand Slams, from 118 to around 75.<\/p>\n Chipping away at the number of 250s will not have the same sort of impact, but it\u2019s another indication of where the ATP thinks it can streamline the calendar, and how protecting and promoting its crown jewels, the 1,000-level events, remains paramount to Gaudenzi\u2019s vision, even with feedback from players and fans that they are not working in their current form. It also indicates the contradictory nature of both the schedule itself and some of the players\u2019 concerns, with guarantees for players further down the rankings incompatible with a more liberal market for tournaments.<\/p>\n There will be a review of the extension in 2030.<\/p>\n Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n How did Iga \u015awi\u0105tek deliver for Poland again?<\/p>\n The WTA Tour offseason began with\u2026 more tennis, as the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs to decide which nations would make it into next year\u2019s qualifying competition for the Finals took place across the globe.<\/p>\n Their place in the calendar meant that most nations\u2019 elite players did not participate, but Victoria Mboko rounded off her 2025 rise by playing for Canada, Linda Noskov\u00e1 turned out for Czechia and world No. 2 Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/a> led team Poland as she has so often done in recent years.<\/p>\n The six-time Grand Slam champion\u2019s results against New Zealand and Romania were routine, losing just three games in two matches, as might be expected against world No. 909 Elyse Tse of New Zealand and world No. 292 Gabriela Lee of Romania. More telling was \u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s desire to play, even suggesting that she might play the doubles against New Zealand despite her team telling her to rest, and the hero\u2019s welcome she received from Polish fans in Gorz\u00f3w Wielkopolski.<\/p>\n \u015awi\u0105tek is one of several players to lament the relentlessness of the tennis calendar this year, intimating that she would be skipping more mandatory WTA Tour events in future in order to optimize her performance at the tournaments she most wants to win. So to see her forgoing a week of downtime to turn out for her country in a tie it largely had in hand was not just an indication of her pride in playing for Poland, but also of how the nature of exhaustion in tennis, and which experiences players find to be tiring outside of basic physical work, can be more individual than is assumed.<\/p>\n \n Iga \u015awi\u0105tek led Poland to comprehensive wins in their Billie Jean King Cup matches last week. (Angel Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n James Hansen<\/p>\n What does the United Cup field say about tennis politics?<\/p>\n The United Cup draw takes place on Monday, with some enticing ties in store whoever is drawn against one another. Five of the world\u2019s top 10 men and four of the world\u2019s top 10 women have entered the event, including Coco Gauff<\/a> and Taylor Fritz<\/a> representing the U.S. \u015awi\u0105tek,\u00a0Alexander Zverev<\/a> (Germany) and Jack Draper<\/a> (U.K.) are among some of the other big names signed up for the mixed tournament that pits 18 nations against one another.<\/p>\n![\"Katarzyna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Iga-Swiatek-Billie-Jean-King-Cup.jpg\")
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