'It's insane' - Taylor Fritz slams tennis schedule after numerous Grand Slam winners drop out of Masters 1000 event

World number four Taylor Fritz has spoken out against the extremely busy tennis schedule, with there being a number of top players dropping out of the upcoming Canadian Open. With Wimbledon having concluded just over a week ago, the number one American has criticised the decision to extend these tournaments, with them rising to 96 players and adding almost another week of action on top of what already is a very full schedule

“I mean, probably pretty much all the players for a long time have been asking for the season to be shorter," Fritz said. "But all we are doing is just lengthening it, adding more stuff, we're adding more, like, longer tournaments.”

An example he used was Canadian tennis player Felix Auger-Aliassime who has played an event last week between Wimbeldon and the upcoming 1000 event. “The Hopman Cup was after Wimbledon. I didn't even know this was going on. They had an event with like Felix [Auger-Aliassime] and [Flavio] Cobolli playing a tournament right after Wimbledon, and one of them is coming and playing here. It's insane. We are just adding stuff to the calendar over and over again.”

More tournaments reduces days off for players

Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and British number one Jack Draper are among the big seeds to have withdrawn from the Canadian Open, leaving Fritz as the number two seed, with only German Alexander Zverev the only player ranked higher. With more tournaments cropping up, there is likely to be similar situations to occur with players dropping out, as the number one American admits he would like to see more gaps between tournaments.

“I think they shortened parts to obviously give themselves an extra week to do this, to make it the three weeks between the two tournaments," Fritz said. “I think it's funny how we find ways to shorten the schedule to make room for other tournaments, but we can't find room to shorten the schedule just for there to be nothing.

After the Canadian Open, there is another 1000 event in Cincinnati beginning right after the action finishes in Montreal. Five days after that the US Open starts, with many players eyeing up the final grand slam of the year. This would include last year's finalist Fritz, who has a lot of ATP points to defend.

He went on to suggest a revised schedule with more weeks off, but admitted that there is 'a lot of tennis' coming up. He said: “I'd love to see it go back to just two weeks and maybe we can have an extra, can shorten the season a week, I don't know. But it's a lot of tennis. It's a lot of tennis upcoming.”

Higher number of players result in days off

With there now 96 players in seven of the nine 1000 Masters events, it opens up a grand slam-like schedule with players now able to have a day off between games. This is compared to playing consecutive games in the space of a week, with now a longer period to play all the games despite the higher numbers of players.

Fritz had positive stuff to say about this change, but also linked it to his mindset and how he is feeling at the time. “To be honest, I am complaining about the length of the two-week tournaments, but at the same time, I don't dislike playing a match and having a day off and playing a match."

“It's weird. It's just kind of like kind of, like, mindset and feeling I'm in. Some weeks I might prefer just to go all at once, and some weeks I might prefer to have a day off after my matches.”