{"id":67271,"date":"2025-08-08T09:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T09:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/67271\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T09:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T09:15:09","slug":"jimmy-connors-calls-for-change-at-masters-1000-events-as-he-labels-current-system-as-a-complete-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/67271\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Connors calls for change at Masters 1000 events as he labels current system as a complete ‘joke’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The extended length of WTA and Masters 1000 tournaments continues to be a big talking point.<\/p>\n

Several players from both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s circuits have voiced their views on the change, and there has been a divisive response.<\/p>\n

The likes of Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> and Frances Tiafoe do not agree with the longer tournaments<\/a>, but world number one Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> is in favour of the format change.<\/p>\n

It appears as though the longer ATP and WTA 1000 tournaments are here to stay, but one of the game\u2019s legends, Jimmy Connors<\/a>, has recently expressed how he feels about it.<\/p>\n

\"JimmyPhoto by Scott Dudelson\/Getty ImagesJimmy Connors does not like the extended Masters 1000 tournaments<\/p>\n

Alcaraz criticised the ATP<\/a> by saying the extended schedule is \u2018killing\u2019 the players.<\/p>\n

Now eight-time Grand Slam champion Connors has weighed in on the matter, and he is also not in favour of the longer Masters 1000 events.<\/p>\n

The American does not understand how extended tournaments benefit the players, especially in the leadup to a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a joke! They are losing a weekend crowd. If you are going to do it, maybe start it on a Thursday and get two weekends,\u201d Connors said on his \u2018Advantage\u2019 podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut why are you doing that? What changed? They\u2019re not playing three out of five, so why make it a 12 day tournament?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting because the US Open is right around the corner, so how do they prepare for Toronto, then Cincinnati, then the week off, and then the US Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when the US Open comes that is your best tennis. Every match is important but you want to peak at the Open. So what are they going to do for that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by ANGELA WEISS\/AFP via Getty ImagesJimmy Connors has advice for one ATP player ahead of the US Open<\/p>\n

One player who could make history at the upcoming US Open is Novak Djokovic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Serbian is aiming to win a record-equalling fifth title in New York, which would be his first Grand Slam since the 2023 US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Djokovic can become the first male or female player in the Open Era to win 25 Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n

However, he is not playing in any tournaments before arriving in New York, and Connors is pleased he is monitoring his body ahead of the year\u2019s final Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at a guy like Djokovic, you know, he\u2019s gotta monitor his time and the effort that he puts in, because he is the older player on the circuit now,\u201d said the eight-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if he wants to bring his game up and rise to the top when it supposedly is the most meaningful, which would be the US Open, he\u2019s got to monitor what\u2019s best, but also be able to play some matches too going into the tournament, so you don\u2019t just go in flat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The extended length of WTA and Masters 1000 tournaments continues to be a big talking point. Several players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[430,12685,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-67271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-jimmy-connors","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67271","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=67271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}