{"id":277142,"date":"2025-11-07T11:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/277142\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T11:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:30:09","slug":"jack-draper-interview-the-loneliness-of-elite-tennis-the-calendar-and-player-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/277142\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Draper interview: The loneliness of elite tennis, the calendar, and player welfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Draper<\/a> has said that \u201cit\u2019s up to the players to stop talking about it all the time and actually take some action\u201d in the ongoing cold war between the players, the ATP and WTA Tours and the Grand Slams<\/a>, in an exclusive interview with The Tennis Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging interview, Draper, the British world No. 11 who hasn\u2019t played since August because of an elbow injury<\/a>, spoke about how tennis\u2019 grueling schedule is hurting players mentally and physically. He advocated for a reduction of the 12-day ATP and WTA Masters 1000 events (the rung below the Grand Slams) and for a six-week off-season.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the ATP Tour referenced chairman Andrew Gaudenzi\u2019s question-and-answer interview with the organization<\/a> from August when asked for comment.<\/p>\n

Draper\u2019s comments come at a time when the leading players from both tours, including himself, have formed a group and held meetings with the Grand Slams asking for a greater share of tournament revenues and more of a say in how their events are run.<\/p>\n

Draper said the players should organise a meeting with the ATP\u2019s chairman, Gaudenzi, to air their grievances, and echoed Novak Djokovic\u2019s comments from this year\u2019s U.S. Open<\/a>, when the 24-time Grand Slam champion said that change would require time and sacrifices from the tour\u2019s leading players.<\/p>\n

The Grand Slams have said in recent weeks that any dialogue with players is contingent on the resolution of the PTPA\u2019s antitrust lawsuit, which names the four majors and two tennis tours as defendants. Gaudenzi has said that with players being independent contractors, they are also able to tailor their own schedule.<\/p>\n

Below are Draper\u2019s views on the schedule, the tournaments, and how to effect change.<\/p>\n

On the tennis schedule<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the intention was really good with making the Masters 1000s 12 days, increasing the revenue for the events, and giving back to the players, especially the ones who are performing really well. But the requirements are high. They\u2019ve added an extra, say, 21 days onto an already really packed schedule. The Slams have also added days. That\u2019s a different topic, but it just seems like there are more requirements for players. There\u2019s more punishment. When I speak about punishment, I mean the fact that it\u2019s directly linked to the bonus pool. So if a player were to go out and have a really bad injury, there\u2019s no protection. They\u2019ll lose 25 percent of their bonus pool for each event they missed. So say this year, I\u2019ve missed three events. I won\u2019t get any of one-half of the bonus pool. I get a performance bonus pool, but in actual reality, it\u2019s not incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how extending the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments has affected player welfare<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a sport that\u2019s quite lonely, being on the road for those extra days and not having the time to come back in between and just feeling like you\u2019re on a constant treadmill where it\u2019s like one big event after one big event after another one. A lot of players have spoken out about it. I think I saw (Carlos) Alcaraz say, \u2018I think they\u2019re going to kill us in some way,\u2019 but I think people get confused because it\u2019s not necessarily about the physicality of the sport. It\u2019s about how much players are putting into sport, especially if they\u2019re doing it properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when it just seems like there\u2019s a never-ending cycle of events, of competition, of training, it\u2019s really, really difficult. And you\u2019ll hear people say, obviously we\u2019re in such a privileged position. I completely understand that. We\u2019re making great money. We\u2019re in a really good spot playing the sport we love, but can the sport be better? Yes, it can. I think it\u2019s now up to the players to stop talking about it all the time and actually take some action, come forward, speak about it, speak to the heads of the ATP, speak to organizations, and really come to some solutions here, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the effect of longer events and playing seven matches in two weeks compared to five in a week, he added: \u201cIt\u2019s not healthy. Obviously, a lot of players have come out and have spoken about mental health this year. We\u2019re seeing it more and more. And I get it. Like I said, it\u2019s a really tough thing to sort of verbalize because we are in such a great position. But at the same time,\u00a0 when you\u2019re out there, five matches in seven days is so much easier than seven matches in 14 days because there\u2019s so much dead time, there\u2019s so much waiting around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more to do with just the player welfare, the mental burnout, especially certain things in the calendar. You\u2019re seeing a lot of players come out to talk about mental health, talk about that kind of feel-nothing factor. And a big part of it is because tennis players are just on the road so much now and the governing bodies are just adding more days, more requirements to the players. It\u2019s really hard being on the road for that long. And I\u2019m someone who can go away to Madrid and come back home. A lot of these guys are from South America, from Asia, and they don\u2019t have any balance of life anymore in such a lonely sport. So I think that\u2019s a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how united tennis players are on these issues<\/p>\n

\u201cI think players are becoming more vocal around it \u2026 I think it\u2019s a real shame because the whole point, I think, of the ATP doing what they\u2019re doing with the tournaments is to protect the tournaments from the big players pulling out and missing their tournaments. But I think you\u2019re gonna see more and more top players start missing those big events because if they\u2019re doing really well, they just can\u2019t cope with the demands of the schedule. So in a way, I think in the long term, if players\u2019 careers are definitely potentially going to get a little bit shorter because of the burnout aspect, I think everyone\u2019s a loser.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers have really pushed for more money in the sport and stuff, and they\u2019ve tried to do that, but I think by doing that the way they have, it\u2019s kind of backfired a little bit. Because I haven\u2019t heard one player say they like it (the 12-day Masters 1000 events). I haven\u2019t had one coach say they liked it. I haven\u2019t heard any fans say they enjoy the system. And I think what\u2019s most important for the ATP is that the players are the most important asset here. And so if something isn\u2019t working, then we need to be able to speak and come to some solutions here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On players complaining about the schedule but still playing exhibition events<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the guys who are playing in between Madrid and Rome, playing an exhibition there, if they\u2019re complaining about the schedule, they have no leg to stand on that at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself, I\u2019m obviously playing two exhibitions at the end of the year, but I\u2019m really not a fan of exhibitions at all. I play because I want to compete for something. I suppose I\u2019m playing them at the end of the year because I wanna just get some matches for next year and to feel fresh, to feel good. And I haven\u2019t played one since 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019ve got the Saudi event (the Six Kings Slam where each player received $1.5 million for turning up and Sinner won an additional $4.5 million for winning the event. Draper was entered but withdrew because of injury), which I think people need to have a bit more common sense around, because if you\u2019re in a player\u2019s position and it\u2019s the highest prize pool in tennis, then it\u2019s really hard to turn that kind of opportunity down. And I know it\u2019s one of those, it\u2019s like, \u2018why would you do that? Why would you go there?\u2019 But the way the ATP is structuring things, especially with the Masters 1000s, and the punishment if you don\u2019t go and play all the Masters 1000s, this year Jannik and Carlos will make more money in one night of work, as opposed to a whole year of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

On solutions<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be able to sit in front of Gaudenzi and have a proper conversation around where this whole thing is going and come to some happy mediums and happy solutions because like I said, there\u2019s a lot of really good things that are going on, but most of it is at the expense of the players and it\u2019s not properly thought through, I don\u2019t think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see it (Masters 1000 events) potentially go down to nine, 10, 11 days, and I think that is really a possibility. I think it will give players more time to prepare for tournaments, more extra days to not be on the road all the time, and then the big question is, well, to do that, the revenue is not going to be the same because it\u2019s 12 days now and it\u2019s going to be fewer days. I would take a cut of that bonus pool to make it back to what it wants to be and I think if the players really want to push for changes, they can\u2019t have their cake and eat it, and if they really want to make the sport better and if they feel really strongly about this subject, which I believe a lot of players do, then they have to be willing to take potentially a cut of that and understand that the ATP have tried to do a really good job here and put the money in the players\u2019 pockets, but it\u2019s backfired and players hate it. So it\u2019s like, where\u2019s the happy medium? So I would like it to go to maybe nine, 10 days in a perfect world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of an off-season, I\u2019d say a month and a half would be more than enough. Just not two, three, four weeks. I really don\u2019t think that\u2019s beneficial for anyone. I think as a fan of the sport, as someone who, if I were just watching tennis, I\u2019d want it to be a bit more scarce. I\u2019d want it to be more like more build-up. Like you\u2019re waiting for the next event. Like you waiting to see how players have improved and what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery week there\u2019s a different match on, there\u2019s a different tournament. You can\u2019t follow it because three different places there\u2019s events and I feel it kind of needs to just take a step back and realise that the product doesn\u2019t have to be out there all the time, but if we can have a product that\u2019s out there for when it\u2019s needed and not necessarily just 24\/7, that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Draper has said that \u201cit\u2019s up to the players to stop talking about it all the time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,1794,428],"class_list":["post-277142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}