Tennis courts and controversies go hand-in-hand. This season’s schedule has players and fans alike fired up. From heated outbursts on the court to frustration with the organizers, the sport is feeling the backlash from all sides. The latest? Scheduling complaints. But as Stefanos Tsitsipas steps up to share his grievances, he’s met with a quick, cutting reaction from none other than Stan Wawrinka. Drama, anyone?

The Greek tennis sensation took to his X account and shared a post by the official account of the Served with Roddick podcast. In the video, former pro Andy Roddick can be heard saying that the increased durations of the tournament are taking a physical toll on the players and are leaving very little room for them to rest and return for other tournaments. Responding to the same, Tsitsipas shared his views and highlighted the struggles that players have faced in recent times. 

Expressing similar sentiments, Tsitsipas wrote, “The two-week Masters 1000s have turned into a drag. The quality has definitely dropped. Players aren’t getting the recovery or training time they need.” Continuing further, he wrote, “It’s ironic that the @atptour committed to this format without knowing if it could actually improve the schedule, but the quality likewise. If the goal was to ease the calendar, extending every 1000 to two weeks is a backwards move. Sometimes, it feels like they’re fixing what wasn’t broken.” But despite the honest admission and concern raised by the Greek star, Wawrinka decided to take a sharp dig at him.

While he did not say or write a single word, the Swiss player shared a clip of a two-year-old video in which Tsitsipas engaged in an interaction with ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi in Rome. In the interview, the duo can be seen discussing the future plan of ATP in terms of schedule. Guadenzi had then highlighted that the idea of the ATP was to convert other tournaments along the lines of Indian wells, with a draw of 96 players that would extend up to 12 days, which he termed as a crucial step for the players. 

“You would have Madrid, Rome, two weeks, two weeks. You have Shanghai, two weeks. You would have Canada and Cincy sharing three weeks. So we’re trying to expand, giving more days, more prize money, bigger stages,” Gaudenzi explained. Interestingly, Tsitsipas did not register any objection back then and highlighted how players would enjoy better financial ability with the idea. “In a way also that means that the top 100 players are provided good financial support for their efforts annually,” Tsitsipas can be heard saying in the video. Wawrinka, meanwhile, was quick to point this out. 

What becomes more interesting is the fact that the ATP Boss highlighted back then that despite the increasing number of weeks, the number of tournaments will not reduce at all rather they will be scheduled differently. For the unversed, ATP 1000 tournaments like those organized in Rome, Madrid, and Shanghai were extended from one week to 12 days and the draw size increased from 56 to 96 players in 2023. Now, with his latest post against Tsitsipas, Wawrinka has continued to target the opinions of his counterparts as well as ATP officials which he does not approve of, and the Greek is not the only player to be his target.

When Stan Wawrinka sarcastically reacted to Jannik Sinner’s remarks

Stan Wawrinka has recently highlighted his cheeky side to the community. Before targeting Stefanos Tsitsipas on X, he also took a sarcastic dig at World No. 1 Jannik Sinner over his remarks after clinching the trophy and $6 Million prize money at the Six Kings Slam in Riyadh. 

In an interaction with Eurosports earlier, Sinner said, “I don’t play for money. It’s very simple. Of course it’s a nice prize and everything. For me, I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world and then you can measure yourself with them. And it was also a nice event for me. The money is important but not that much.” However, this did not sit well with the 3-time slam champion.

In a video of the interview that surfaced on X, Wawrinka took a veiled jibe as he replied with a laughing face emoji. For now, it would be interesting to see if Tsitsipas comes out to hit back at Wawrinka with another take. But what remains more crucial is to see whether the ATP officials will pay heed to the latest complaints on scheduling that the players are registering.