Can ATP Tour Learn from WTA scheduling?

We’ve had a tremendous finish to the 2011 WTA season, probably the best finish for a number of years. Petra Kvitova won the BNP Paribas WTA Championships for the first time, and in emphatic style winning all of her matches. The championships took place in Istanbul for the first of a 3 year contract and the atmosphere was great with record breaking attendences, which really inspired the players to put on a good show for the crowds.

A week later we had the Federation cup shootout between Russia and the Czech Republic in Moscow. The Czechs edged out the Russians 3:2 to win the cup for the first time as an independent nation. One of the matches of the year took place in the 3rd rubber between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Petra Kvitova. The match kept everyone on the edge of their seats with 3 sets of high quality intense tennis with both players hitting an incredible number of winners under pressure. It was a great advert for womens Tennis.

With Ana Ivanovic winning the tour of champions in Bali for a second time, there is now a nice two month break until end December when the merry go round of the tour recommences in Australasia. The players have an opportunity to have 3 to 4 weeks off to relax and recharge their batteries before commencing pre season preparations. However, it’s not only an opportunity for the players to decompress; the fans can also recharge and really get excited about the upcoming 2012 season.

While the WTA tour has shut down for another year, the ATP continues to roll. During the week of the WTA championships, there were indoor tournaments in Stockholm and Vienna. Then last week there were tournaments in Valencia and Basel. The Paris Masters has just taken place and then from November 20th through 27th the ATP World Tour finals at the 02 arena in London. And if that wasn’t enough, the Davis cup final between Spain and Argentina takes place a week later in early December.

It’s been difficult to keep up with who’s winning what and where. Not only that, but a bit of mental fatigue has crept in, I kind of want the season to be over already.

I’ve been following the ATP tour closely since 1993 and for as long as I can remember the complaints have been the same, the season is too long. It seems less like a season and more like a circus, a never ending commitment to play tournaments all around the world for pretty much 12 months a year. Like cricket, mens tennis has suffered from a scenario of nonstop touring. That is set to change from 2012.

There have been many vague changes to the tour designed to reduce the workload of the players. One change included making all ATP finals best of 3 sets including the ATP World Tour final (a mistake in my view which reduces the prestige of the tournament). There have also been changes to the rankings system which gives out points almost like confetti for winning major championships. Players are encouraged via complicity to take breaks during the course of the season, somewhere between the end of the grass court season and the beginning of the hard court season. Also between the end of the US Open and the Asian swing in late summer.

However, what will really make the difference for players and fans is to have a proper off season, like the WTA tour has managed. This year there is a huge difference where the WTA has a break of 8 weeks and the ATP a break of just over 4 weeks. We’ve heard the complaints from the likes of Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray but we are still in the same scenario as previous years.

Finally, after years of lack of will and vested interests by tournament directors, it seems as though the ATP has listened and shortened the calendar for 2012, which will see the World Tour finals finishing on November 11th, with the Davis cup final presumably taking place a week later. This is a welcome change of thinking and overdue, the tennis tour is quite a grind of nonstop travelling and as a consequence top players retire fairly young compared to many other professional sports. Players of the calibre of Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and Patrick Rafter among others have all retired before reaching their 32nd birthday. Tennis fans have been deprived of these great players playing into their mid 30s.

At the same time, the ATP needs to work harder to find a way of shortening the season still further for the top players. One way to do that would be to match the WTA and end the season at the end of October and not towards mid November. Shortening the season further will not only reduce the mental and physical fatigue of players, but also give players a longer off season to recharge their batteries and make proper preparations for the next season.

For once, the sometimes maligned WTA tour has taken the lead on improving the lot of their players. The ATP have now followed the lead for the 2012 season, let’s hope this is the start of a new trend of having at least an off season where players and fans can take stock and look forward to the next season with fresh minds and spirits.