ATP Shanghai: Tennis Fans’ Outrage Over Unfortunate Schedule Changes Receive Strong Counter With Tennis Bigwig’s Firm Defense

Rain, rain, go away! We’ve heard a lot of this in the 2024 season, especially during the 2024 French Open. Now, Rain God has also started to shower His blessings in Shanghai. Play has been affected by rain for the third consecutive day at the ATP Shanghai Masters! After facing quite a few rain delays, tournament organizers have now started to move matches to the indoor courts to help relieve pressure on the schedule. However, fans were a bit annoyed seeing the top seeds stay unaffected by schedule changes in Shanghai. They even raised a few question marks on this decision. However, a renowned tennis journalist defended Shanghai facilities amid all these controversies.

Inconsistent rains and heavy downpours have hampered match schedules at ATP Shanghai. However, being top seed comes with its own sets of perks. This time, the perks include the chance to play on indoor courts! However, fans raised a few question marks on this preferential treatment in the last few hours. Some of the fans even took a jibe at the ATP’s “poor scheduling” that ultimately prevented the lower-ranked players from resuming their second-round matches due to harsh weather conditions.

A few of them raised their eyebrows, seeing Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s matches left unaffected due to all of these. Recently, Tennis TV shared a video clip featuring Alexander Bublik and Roman Safiullin’s match on the indoor court and wrote, “The show must go on” in the captions. The renowned tennis journalist, Ben Rothenberg shared that post on his X handle, captioning, “Who cares if it’s a bare-bones aesthetic, it’s actually deeply tremendous for a M1000 event to be able to provide indoor courts for play during unyielding rain in Shanghai. Seeing a match of elite pros be played in 2024 with a manual scoreboard next to the net is nifty, IMO.”

Rothenberg looked impressed with the indoor facilities in Shanghai. Are the players happy though with all these things? The Monday (October 7) schedule at the ATP Shanghai has been reduced to just 9 singles matches. All matches on outdoor courts were postponed. The action continued only inside the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. Even the doubles matches have been rescheduled for Tuesday.

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ match against France’s Alexandre Muller has been also rescheduled for Tuesday! Taylor Fritz clinched a hard-fought victory under the roof against Terence Atmane (FRA). So, despite all the challenges the show is still on for some superstars, while others have to wait a bit. Matches getting canceled or postponed is never a pleasing sight for the players or even the fans. Do these things impact their performances on the court?

Not only in ATP Shanghai, fans have witnessed similar gloomy pictures in this year’s French Open as well

The 2024 French Open, witnessed similar rain delays and unfortunate schedule changes. It created a bit of stress and raised a few uncertainties in the players’ minds. How do players look at all these stops and stars, shifting from here to there due to harsh weather conditions? “It is hard, more mentally than physically. You don’t know when you can mentally relax a little bit. You kind of have to be switched on all the time,” said WTA star Leylah Fernandez.

American tennis player, Peyton Stearns highlighted the kind of uncertainties that come up with these interruptions due to rain. According to Madison Keys, the scheduling changes can add an extra bit of stress and chaos among the players. While Ben Shelton believes that getting cold and then warm again and then cold takes a “big toll” on the body of every athlete. He highlighted the importance of “getting the engine” running throughout the matches. Some others like Alex de Minaur went a step ahead and labeled rain delays are not ideal, “It’s probably one of the worst parts of our sports.“

So, like the fans even the players get frustrated with these stops and starts. Do you think every tennis stadium should look forward to building a retractable roof in the near future? Share your thoughts on ATP Shanghai’s facilities too in the comment section.