Following the Wimbledon Championships the ATP Tour has now moved to North America for the summer hard court swing.
After an entertaining week in Washington D.C the circuit has now moved to Toronto for the Canadian Open.
Despite the somewhat depleted field, fans are excited to see some of the world’s best players battle it out for the coveted trophy.
However, there is one player in the draw who is not happy with the ATP and used social media to address his views.
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty ImagesDan Evans slams Alejandro Davidovich Fokina’s Canadian Open schedule complaints
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina began his Canadian Open campaign with a victory over the unpredictable Corentin Moutet.
He is now set to face Jakub Mensik in the next round, with his match set to begin at 11am local time (4pm GMT) on Friday.
However, the other four matches are scheduled to take place no earlier than 1.30pm local time (5.30PM GMT), which has frustrated the Spaniard as he calls for consistency with scheduling times.
“Today I want to share my disappointment and frustration with the ATP. Tomorrow, every match starts at 12:30, except ours, which has been scheduled at 11:00,” the Spaniard wrote on X.
“We’re staying one hour away from the club, which means we have to wake up extremely early to arrive in good condition.
The ATP always promises they’ll fix things, but nothing ever changes. This isn’t the first time it happens, and when you’re inside, you realize that it is not as great as it looks from the outside.”
His complaints have been seen by Britain’s Dan Evans, who used Instagram to issue a short yet strong response. “Wake up and play,” Evans wrote. “The world wakes up and works 9-5, even 8-6. Pathetic.”
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesWhich other tennis player criticised the Canadian Open?
In addition to Davidovich Fokina, the WTA’s Leylah Fernandez spoke out against the Canadian Open.
The 23-year-old travelled to Montreal to play in her home tournament. This came just 48 hours after Fernandez won the Citi Open in Washington D.C.
Fernandez claimed the tournament promised her she would be able to play in the night session on Tuesday to give her some more time to recover from her previous event. That wish was not granted as she competed in Tuesday’s day session and Fernandez lost 4-6, 1-6 to Maya Joint.
Post-match, Fernandez made it clear that she was not happy with the tournament’s scheduling. “Regarding the short turnaround, “I received a lot of promises from the — from scheduling about giving me maybe the night match, and I did not receive that.
“So that kind of hurt me because I was very looking forward to be playing at night, but you know, I guess it’s a little bit political issues at that point.
Valerie Tetreault – the National Bank Open tournament director, has since responded and said the WTA did not grant the request. “I didn’t win my fight,” she admitted.
“I received the request for her to play in the evening. It’s my role to have conversations with the WTA, so I pushed as much as possible for her to have what she wanted.”