The 2025 Cincinnati Open began before the 2025 Canadian Open had even finished, an interesting development that caused quite the stir.
As Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov and Victoria Mboko, and Naomi Osaka prepared to play their Canadian Open finals, the first-round matches in Cincinnati were well underway.
By the time Shelton had beaten Khachanov and Mboko had defeated Osaka to clinch the titles in Canada, several big names were already out of the Cincinnati Open.
The likes of Venus Williams and Katie Boulter were knocked out in round one of the Cincinnati Open, while the Canadian Open was still ongoing.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
This strange phenomenon was a result of the new format introduced for 2025, where the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open are set to be played across three weeks.
Giving his verdict on the three-week format, former world number one Andy Roddick shared whether he was a fan of the change.
Andy Roddick thinks the three-week format works and wants Indian Wells and Miami to follow suit
During the latest edition of ‘Quick Served’, Roddick shared his thoughts on the three-week format.
“I’ve got to tell you guys, the three-week situation. I am mad just because it added a week, I am a broken record,” he said,
“But now having seen this event, I was with the tournament directors up there, and Tennis Canada, and they did not disagree with what I was saying. It’s like the Spiderman meme where anyone you talk to just points to the other one, and says they added a week, we only added four days.
“I am down with the three-week side of things. I just think all the other ones should do it too. I think it worked.”
The ATP Tour legend wants to see the other two-week Masters 1000 tournaments work together to mesh their events into a three-week period.
“I like it way more than I thought with the two events smashed up against each other,” he said.
“The three-week model does not bother me. Now, why can’t Madrid and Rome do that? Why can’t Indian Wells and Miami do that?
“I know the reasons are because it’s separate ownership structures and whatever, but I’m just saying if we are pulling back and just saying what is best for the ATP schedule, this worked.”
In 2025, the number of 96-player Masters 1000 events was increased from five to seven, although the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open were the only two events to overlap.
TournamentDrawMain draw start dateDate of finalChampionIndian Wells96March 5March 16Jack DraperMiami Open96March 19March 30Jakub MensikMonte-Carlo56April 6April 13Carlos AlcarazMadrid Open96April 23May 4Casper RuudItalian Open96May 7May 18Carlos AlcarazCanadian Open96July 27August 7Ben SheltonCincinnati Open96August 7August 18–Shanghai Masters96October 1October 12–Paris Masters56October 27November 2–2025 Masters 1000 schedule
With the two events overlapping, performance byes are reserved for unseeded players who reach the finals of the Canadian Open.
On the WTA Tour, Osaka and Mboko fit into that category, but withdrew from Cincinnati, as the byes weren’t used.
While Roddick is a fan of the three-week events, he isn’t happy with the performance byes, as he claims the rule is ‘dumb’.
“The performance bye is dumb because I don’t want to hear it, and I’m the first former player to raise my hand and say everyone is better and they will be better and sports moves on. And also, I once won 12 matches in 13 days at these two events and won both of them,” he said.
Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
“Let’s take [Naomi] Osaka for an example, and she is not thinking this right now, but if you go into this and say you make the final, and your turnaround time for Cincy might be a little short. You know what is shorter?
“Playing Sunday and then playing Tuesday, like it used to be. So that is an improvement.”
Everyone has their own opinions on the ATP Tour schedule, but Roddick’s is one shared by many.
The American has an idea of how to fix the scheduling issues, which would give the players a much longer off-season.
Andy Roddick’s plan to fix the tennis schedule
Not for the first time, Roddick has outlined his plans to create a more manageable tennis schedule.
“I don’t like adding weeks, we need fewer weeks, we need to be done with tennis by November 1st,” he said.
“That needs to be the goal of every conversation moving forward because we want our star players, if we can get two more years out of them, that’s worth it. Multiply that by ten players, and you have stacked fields. People need time to recover.
“Play the [ATP] 250s in November and front-load all the big point events for the top players who play the most, who need the most rest.
MonthTournamentCountrySurfaceChampionDecember/JanuaryHong Kong OpenHong KongHardAlexandre MullerDecember/JanuaryBrisbane InternationalAustraliaHardJiri LeheckaJanuaryAdelaide InternationalAustraliaHardFelix Auger-AliassimeJanuaryAuckland OpenNew ZealandHardGael MonfilsJanuary/FebruaryOpen OccitanieFranceHardFelix Auger-AliassimeFebruaryDelray Beach OpenUSAHardMiomir KecmanovicFebruaryOpen 13FranceHardUgo HumbertFebruaryArgentina OpenArgentinaClayJoao FonsecaFebruary/MarchChile OpenChileClayLaslo DjereMarch/AprilU.S Men’s Clay Court ChampionshipsUSAClayJenson BrooksbyMarch/AprilGrand Prix Hassan IIMoroccoClayLuciano DarderiMarch/AprilRomanian OpenRomaniaClayFlavio CobolliMayGeneva OpenSwitzerlandClayNovak DjokovicJuneStuttgart OpenGermanyGrassTaylor FritzJuneRosmalen Grass Court ChampionshipsNetherlandsGrassGabriel DialloJuneMallorca ChampionshipsSpainGrassTallon GriekspoorJuneEastbourne InternationalUKGrassTaylor FritzJulyLos Cabos OpenMexicoHardDenis ShapovalovJulySwedish OpenSwedenClayLuciano DarderiJulySwiss OpenSwitzerlandClayAlexander BublikJulyAustrian OpenAustriaClayAlexander BublikJulyCroatia OpenCroatiaClayLuciano DarderiAugust Winston-Salem OpenUSAHard–SeptemberChengdu OpenChinaHard–SeptemberHangzhou OpenChinaHard–OctoberAlmaty OpenKazakhstanHard–OctoberEuropean OpenBelgiumHard–OctoberStockholm OpenSwedenHard–NovemberHellenic ChampionshipGreeceHard–NovemberMoselle OpenFranceHard–2025 ATP 250 tournaments
“Let the 250s live in November and let the people [ranked] 70 or 80, trying to make hay and get paychecks, play that.
“Let’s not take up a month, let’s take up three weeks.”
There are 30 ATP 250 events scheduled for 2025, spread across the entire year.
If Roddick had his way, those events would all be contested by lower-ranked players in November.
Only time will tell if the tennis calendar changes in the future, but it will certainly be something to keep an eye on.