Alex de Minaur has become the latest tennis star to criticise the sport’s gruelling calendar.
Players on the ATP and WTA Tours are on the road for the majority of the season, which typically begins in late December and runs through to late November.
World No. 9 de Minaur suffered a surprise second-round loss to Alexander Bublik at Roland-Garros and spoke post-match about the men’s tennis schedule.
He explained that players will “burn out mentally” if the demanding programme remains.
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“No one’s got a solution,” de Minaur said.
“But the solution is simple: you shorten the schedule, right?
“What’s not normal is that for the last three, four years I’ve had two days off after the Davis Cup and I’ve gone straight into pre-season, straight into the new season again.
“Once you start, you don’t finish until November 24. So it’s never-ending.
“The way it’s structured … I had to deal with that. I’m still dealing with that right now.
“The solution is you shorten, because what’s going to happen is players’ careers are going to get shorter and shorter because they’re just going to burn out mentally.
“There’s just too much tennis.”
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Fellow Australian Jordan Thompson slammed the ATP Tour schedule days earlier, describing it as “sh**”.
“Unfortunately, with the schedule and how sh** it is, we can’t afford to take breaks because you let other people just have an opportunity to pass you on the rankings and get more prize money, and you just feel like you’re missing out on an opportunity,” he said.
On Thursday, two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud likened the ranking system to a “rat race”, outlining how players feel compelled to compete in the events, even if they are carrying injuries.
“Well, it’s kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings,” he said.
“You feel you’re obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events.
“You feel like you lose a lot if you don’t show up and play … the punishments are quite hard, in terms of everyone else will play, gain points, and you won’t.”
