ATP Tour stars clash over ‘pathetic’ Canadian Open scheduling complaint
Dan Evans has called Alejandro Davidovich Fokina’s schedule complaint “pathetic” after the Spaniard raised concerns about his start time at the Canadian Open.
World No 19 Davidovich Fokina will take on 12th seed and world No 18 Jakub Mensik in Toronto on Friday, a match that is set to start at 11am local time.
The match between Czech ace Mensik and 20th seed Davidovich Fokina is the only match set to start at 11am on Friday, with a start time of 12.30pm local time on all other courts at the Masters 1000 event.
Mensik and Davidovich Fokina will open play on Grandstand Court on Monday, with Centre Court play starting 90 minutes later with a match between Andrey Rublev and Lorenzo Sonego.
It will be the second match of the tournament for both the 12th seed and 20th seed, with Mensik defeating Tristan Boyer in round two, and Davidovich Fokina beating Corentin Moutet.
However, taking to social media yesterday, the Spaniard revealed his dissatisfaction with the early start time in Toronto.
He wrote: “Today I want to share my disappointment and frustration with the ATP.
“Tomorrow, every match starts at 12:30, except ours, which has been scheduled at 11:00. We’re staying one hour away from the club, which means we have to wake up extremely early to arrive in good condition.
“We’ve asked for a change, but the answer was that everything has already been sold, tickets, TV rights, etc. Once again, it’s clear that players are not taken into consideration.
“Today it happened to others, tomorrow it’s me, and from the day after, all matches return to 12:30. There are plenty of available courts, yet we’re the only ones playing at 11:00.
“The ATP always promises they’ll fix things, but nothing ever changes. This isn’t the first time it happens, and when you’re inside, you realise it’s not as great as it looks from the outside.”
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Davidovich Fokina’s statement generated a mixed response, though it was former world No 21 Evans who has proven to be his harshest critic.
On his Instagram story, the 35-year-old told Fokina to “wake up” and play the match.
He wrote: “Wake up an [sic] play. The world wakes up an [sic] works 9-5 even 8-6 pathetic.”
It is not the first time that Evans has made his feelings clear regarding complaints from fellow players regarding scheduling in tennis.
Speaking to the BBC earlier this summer, the two-time ATP Tour titelist warned that players “moaning” about the schedule was a bad look for tennis.
“When I hear about the schedule [complaints], these guys don’t have to play every week. You are allowed to not play. The reason they play is so they pick up their bonus pool,” he commented.
“We’ve got to be careful moaning about it, we have a lot of work, which is good. There’s lots of people in the world struggling for work, so we have to be careful harping on about the tough schedule.
“We are allowed to take weeks off, we are independent contractors, so that’s where I stand on it.”
