Once the Australian Open is over, lower ranked tournaments are held in women’s and men’s tennis. The best representatives of the WTA circuit play mainly in the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai).
The main ATP tournaments are held in Europe (Montpellier, Marseille, Rotterdam), and then also move to Arab countries. Men still have competitions in the 250 and 500 categories in North and South America, but mainly representatives from these continents compete there. Among the stars, the only exception is the world number two, Carlos Alcaraz, who likes to visit Argentina and Brazil in February.
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It is physically impossible to participate in all competitions of one thousand meters, five hundred meters and the most modest ones. If you miss something, you will have to sacrifice, and this means a lack of potential rating points and prize money. In the women’s circuit, a quite difficult situation is observed due to the density of tournaments in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, which are held consecutively. Participants in the later stages of these competitions practically do not have time to rest, since immediately after the flight they have to play in a new city.
Daria Kasatkina
Photo: Christopher Pike/Getty Images
The fourteenth racket in the world, Daria Kasatkina, spoke with emotion about the current situation. The Russian will play alongside Elena Rybakina in the 500 meters final in Abu Dhabi, which will take place on Sunday at five in the afternoon, local time. And on Monday, Daria should meet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round of the “thousand” in Doha. The distance between the cities is about 600 km. The flight lasts an hour, but it still consumes energy.
“It’s horrible. I have a question for I don’t know who, the WTA or the tournament organizers: Guys, do you want to kill us? Or do you want us to get injured more often? Maybe I have to fly to Doha on Monday and jump on the court that same day after playing five matches at the highest level in Abu Dhabi. I’m sorry, but this is something we have to talk and think about,” Kasatkina said.
Daria added that she understands the situation and that nothing can be done at this time. She expressed hope that in the future the organizers will find a solution by suspending performances or something else.
In fact, the performance break mentioned by Kasatkina partially saves the situation, giving tennis players a certain respite at the start of the tournament after participating in the last stage of the previous competition. However, the number of players exempt from the first round is limited. There is a risk of controversy, as happened with Elena Rybakina last fall in Tokyo. Kazakhstan’s representative then withdrew from the tournament when she was forced to play in the first round, and the lower-seeded tennis players automatically moved on to the second.
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In men’s tennis not everything is easy either. Top racket Novak Djokovic has already accustomed tennis fans to taking long breaks in the latter part of his career. Novak doesn’t play at all in February. The next time he will take the court will be during the Indian Wells Masters in March. The world’s third-ranked player, Daniil Medvedev, rests in the first half of the month and misses a series of tournaments in Europe, including his title defense in Rotterdam. He will only perform in Doha and Dubai. Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner will play in Rotterdam, but the ATP-250 in Montpellier and Marseille will be held without his participation.
Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev also didn’t bother traveling to France, giving tennis players outside the top 10 a chance to win the title. In particular, the Montpellier title was taken by the 23rd racket in the world, the representative of Kazakhstan, Alexander Bublik. Alejandro has also accumulated complaints about what is happening in tennis.
Alejandro Bublik
Photo: Mark Brake/Getty Images
Bublik was asked in the context of the possible creation of a premium circuit independent of the ATP and WTA, and the growing influence of Saudi Arabia. Alexander made it clear that he strongly supported the reforms.
“I’m over it. I’m all for the change because we’ve been playing the same tournaments with the same prize money for the last 15 years. They increase the prize money by 2% and think we should take it and be happy. So I think that these changes are simply necessary. We, the players, need them. The players deserve a change, they deserve to be treated well, they deserve to be paid well, they deserve to play less and enjoy the atmosphere more, because when you play for 11 months in a row it is very exhausting. At the end of the year you have a month of vacation and then everything starts again. That’s why I think the players deserve a better life,” Bublik said.
Alexander not only mentioned the tight schedule, but also the salaries of the tennis players. The prospect of Saudi money coming in, of course, attracts athletes. Just look at the fall exhibition tournament in Riyadh featuring Medvedev, Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner, Rafael Nadal and Holger Rune, whose champion will receive $6 million, roughly double that for the Slam title.
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Official high-level competitions will also be held in Saudi Arabia in the foreseeable future. At least “thousands” and “five hundred”. Perhaps the finalists will move there to reside permanently. And then it could well lead to the creation of a separate “super tour” under the sponsorship of Arab investors. The American expert John Wertheim constantly writes about this.
A couple of days ago, Wertheim reported that the Saudi sovereign fund was going to buy the ATP rating system for five years. Then they plan to face the WTA. Yes, nothing has been decided yet and a possible agreement is still in the discussion phase. However, it is clear which direction tennis is heading. Many players are not happy with the current WTA and ATP system. Saudi Arabia money is a good way to solve problems. At the very least, they can significantly increase the salaries of tennis players, so that they do not have to regret missing this or that tournament as much as they do now.
