“I don’t think our sport is going in the right direction,”– said Iga Swiatek on the WTA schedule. However, it’s not just the Pole star who has criticized the schedule. Carlos Alcaraz too has been open about his views on the hectic and tiring ATP schedule. “Probably, they are going to kill us,” the Spaniard said at the Laver Cup. However, Jannik Sinner offered advice that probably downplayed Alcaraz’s scheduling woes. The Italian emphasized tweaking the schedule to individual needs. And Roger Federer’s ex-coach, Paul Annacone has supported Sinner’s advice.

At the Laver Cup, Alcaraz had voiced his views about the “tight scheduling.” He said, “Right now a lot of good players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of that.” This prompted the response from his arch-rival, Sinner. The Italian said, “We can still choose what to play and what not to play.” This debate has received diverse views from various players. However, Annacone has backed Sinner on this.

In a clip posted by the tennis channel on TikTok, the famous coach delved into the issue of scheduling, as he said, “I like Jannik Sinner’s take. He’s like yeah, the schedule is really complicated, but don’t play if you don’t want to play. There could be some financial implications, and some ranking implications, but the schedule doesn’t work. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”

Annacone agreed that the schedule is getting more and more congested and is making it difficult for the players to manage themselves in terms of rest and recovery. There have been instances in recent times where a player participating in the Laver Cup has flown from Berlin to Tokyo to play in another continent the very next day, hence, jeopardizing their recovery and resulting in underperformance during the match. However, this is not the first time that an intense debate is going on about the tennis schedule. It has happened before, and that’s because “the tennis calendar has always been a circus,” according to Annacone.

While Annacone talked about players prioritizing their needs, Andy Roddick, previously, pointed out the fallacy in the scheduling. The American legend also stressed that the players should refuse to play in certain tournaments.

Andy Roddick dishes out advice for players after Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner join the scheduling debate

It has not been easy for the players to balance tennis and their recovery. Hence, many voices have been raised regarding the tight schedule. The issue at hand is itself very diverse, as it encompasses calendar scheduling and match scheduling. Matches sometimes go past midnight. The US Open organiser Stacey Allaster talked in detail about it after the conclusion of the last Slam of the season. Roddick though has come up with a somewhat peculiar way to solve the issue at hand.

He advised if players want to send a strong message to the ATP, they can refuse to play even those tournaments that are mandatory. He said, “When Carlos is saying it, and he never says anything negative about anything, it says it’s too much. And they are like mandatory events. Carlos… just stop playing the mandatory events. I bet they are not going to throw you off tour. Call their bluff.”

Contrasting views by players, and tennis legends, have brought the issue into light for the authorities to consider their request for a breather through the season. It would be exciting to see how things unfold in the future!