Alexander Zverev: Two-Week Masters Events Are Not Good For Top Players

The general consensus on the proliferation of 2-week Masters events has been thumbs down. While tournaments are thrilled at the increase in income and lower-ranked players are happy since they gain entry into the bigger draws and enjoy the added earnings, fans and some top players are not convinced.

The events seem to drag on and by the middle of week two, there’s often just one singles match on at a time, and momentum has been lost.

Alexander Zverev argues that even though players not get days off, they really are not truly days off.

“I think the two-week Masters 1000 events is great for players that are ranked between 50 and 100 in the world because they get a chance to play a main-draw event at a Masters 1000 event,” Zverev said Tuesday in Rome where he is a former champion. “I think it’s not great for top 10 players. It’s as simple as that.

“Yes, you do get told you have a day in between, you don’t have to play every day. At the end of the day that’s not resting. Resting is when you’re spending time at home, when you’re sleeping in your own bed, maybe with your family, maybe with your dogs, maybe with your kids if you have kids, right? That’s what resting is. A day between matches, if you’re at a different place, that’s not resting.

“If you’re going deep in events, if you’re trying to, like Jannik and Carlos, I guess that’s who we’re talking about here, if you’re trying to make semifinals or finals of every event, you’re just away a lot longer, and you have to work a lot more. It’s as simple as that.”

Conversely, Daniil Medvedev said last week in Madrid that he liked the format, even after getting injured!

“I like this two-week format. I mean, it’s not two weeks. It’s one-and-a-half. I like it for, let’s call it personal reasons, I like when there is a day off. I like that it brings more importance, in my opinion, because then you kind of know if want to do well on tour, you kind of have to play these Masters, and the other tournaments, you have to choose wisely, because if you play good on two-weeks’ Masters, there is not many weeks where you can add the tournaments.

“So me personally, I like it, and I don’t think injuries would come from this format.”

Zverev will have more on his mind then just tennis. Later this month his trial kicks off in Germany over domestic abuse issues with the mother of his child, Brenda Patea.

Zverev said he will not be attending the trial.

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