Extended tournaments are not working – but tennis chiefs have dug a hole for themselves

An extended Madrid Open is one of many tournaments that now stretch over two weeks, but is this new format proving to be successful?

The marquee events on the WTA and ATP Tours used to be played over one week, with players on court every day at the back end of tournaments.

That caused some issues last year, with matches that finished well after midnight giving players limited time to recover and play again the next day.

Extending the tournaments that offer a bumper 1,000 ranking point to the winner helped to solve that problem, but now there are fresh complaints that the new format is extending the tournaments over too long a period.

A two-week tournament for Grand Slams is necessary as players compete over five sets and may not be ready to play again the next day if they have been involved in an epic five-hour contest.

Yet top-ranked players are having long breaks in between matches that they have won with ease in double quick time.

French star Caroline Garcia is among those questioning the extended format of tournaments, as she suggested the gaps between matches are too long.

“In the week we’ve been here, we’ve only played two games,” she said.

“Everything goes very slowly. You don’t do much, you’re waiting all the time… this format is a little frustrating. 

“Maybe there are people who can identify with it, but I still I haven’t found anyone who does.”

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The second week of these ATP and WTA 1000 tournaments is where the real drama gets underway, but that begs the question of whether we need the extended first week?

Having bigger draws is important to bring lower-ranked players into the mix, but the higher-profile players almost feel as if they are playing in a different tournament as a lot of players have already been eliminated by the time they have finished their opening match.

“I’m personally overall not a fan,” said world No 1 Novak Djokovic of the extended ATP 1000 tournaments. 

“Now we’re going to have eight out of nine 1000 events be the same for next year: pretty much a two-week event.”

“As I said it depends from which perspective you are looking at. If you’re a fan, of course, an extra day of seeing the top players is great because you have more tennis in your city. I understand from that point of view.

“It really depends on what you as a player value the most, what are your goals. For me, it’s Roland Garros on clay, for sure, the most important event. I’m trying to do everything in terms of the schedule to set up so that I can play my best there.

“It’s not a guarantee that I will, but I have some experience over the years and I know what I need to do with my team and my preparations in order to peak at Slams, because those are the most important tournaments for me.

“I don’t want to get into the financials, that is a completely different discussion. We can spend all day talking about it, but it really matters from which perspective you look at it. The positive thing is you are giving more players an opportunity to be in the main draw.”

Tournaments can bring in more revenue from ticket sales and spectators buying produce on site, but there is also a huge cost of staffing these vast venues and that is not entirely viable if crowds are limited during the opening days of these extended events.

So while the ATP and WTA seem to be united on their decision to extend their showpiece events, the players appear to be less enthused by a plan that also stretches the attention of spectators both in attendance on on TV.

Are these two-week tour events working?

The general consensus is negative, but it appears these events are here to stay.