Enough is Enough – Here’s how to fix the packed 2020 tennis schedule

The packed 2020 tennis season schedule has not been well-received by anyone. Enough is enough! Here are two ways how to fix it.

The revised 2020 tennis schedule has come under heavy scrutiny over the last few months. It began with the cancellation of the Wimbledon Championships alongside the postponement of Roland Garros. Many players were skeptical about the decision, especially considering it was a unilateral one that didn’t involve the ATP, WTA, or the other three Grand Slam committees.

Tour veteran, Vasek Pospisil, led the way as players were caught by surprise at the tournament’s announcement. From dry humor to outrage, the decision was anywhere close to being taken positively.

Once the tours released their revised 2020 schedule, players realized they’d have to sacrifice rankings points, prize money, and trophies in order to adequately prepare for the restart. This introduced two player camps: Those traveling to the US for the hard-court swing, and those staying in Europe for the clay swing.

It was a jam-packed schedule with no regard to the time needed for players to practice and travel. Theoretically, players would have to play 6 consecutive weeks of tournament play in order to keep up with the proposed schedule.

This obviously can’t be done, and due to the new quarantine restrictions by the EU (mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone traveling from the United States), players are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of flexibility that the tours have had (specifically the ATP) since the lockdown. It’s become bad enough that the players are threatening a Top 20 player boycott at the US Open in order to make their point.

With that being said, it’s time to fix the schedule. Welcome to the all-new Lob and Smash 2020 tennis restart schedule!

Official Lob and Smash 2020 tennis schedule (done the right way)

Now, how can we solve all of the players’ concerns and still fit in every tournament on the ATP/WTA’s schedule? Two major things need to be taken into account: the European Union’s mandatory 14-day quarantine and adequate preparation time in between events for players.

The current ATP schedule is as follows:

"August 20th-27th: Western & Southen Open (New York) August 31st-September 13th: US Open (New York) September 8th-13th: ATP 250 Generali Open (Kitzbuhel) September 20th-27th: ATP Masters 1000 Rome (Rome) September 27th-October 11th: Roland Garros (Paris)"

Factoring in the 14-day quarantine, the game’s top players wouldn’t be able to play in Rome due to scheduling and wouldn’t have any competition on clay until the beginning of Roland Garros. Never fear, the fix is here!

Option #1: Move the Western & Southern Open, US Open forward a week

The first option is a simple one, however unlikely it may be at this point in time. Moving both hard-court tournament up a week would allow for players to have at least the Rome tournament to prepare for Roland Garros. Based on the 14-day quarantine, the new schedule would now look like this:

"August 10th-17th: Western & Southen Open (New York) August 21st-September 2nd: US Open (New York) September 3rd/4th: *14-day quarantine begins for finalists upon Europe arrival* September 8th-13th: ATP 250 Generali Open (Kitzbuhel) September 17th/18th: *14-day quarantine end for finalists* September 20th-27th: ATP Masters 1000 Rome (Rome) September 27th-October 11th: Roland Garros (Paris)"

What stands out in this scenario is the ability to keep Roland Garros in its original spot and the few days that players will have to prepare for Roland Garros at the Masters 1000 Rome event. In addition, the few days between the players Europe arrival and the beginning of Rome gives them some time to fight off jet lag and re-adjust back to European time.

The hard-court swing should be moved if the ATP were decided to lengthen the schedule. Due to the timeless “dibs” rule, Roland Garros did move their tournament to cope with the shutdown before the ATP went into action to reschedule the season.

This first option also makes sense due to what the original restart schedule was when it first came out. The Citi Open was scheduled to be held from August 13th-20th. It’d be a relatively simple fix for them to have all competing players enter the US Open bubble a few days early and stay for the month.

Option #2: Move Rome and Roland Garros a week

This idea could also be a simple solution, theoretically. Since August 10th is only two days away, it isn’t likely for the ATP and the USTA to force players to the United States in two days. Instead, the two major clay-court tournaments can be moved back a week and change in order to give players enough time to get out of quarantine and prepare for the clay swing.

"August 20th-27th: Western & Southen Open (New York) August 31st-September 13th: US Open (New York) September 8th-13th: ATP 250 Generali Open (Kitzbuhel) September 14th/15th: *14-day quaratine begins for finalists* September 30th-4th: ATP Masters 1000 Rome (Rome) September 4th-October 18th: Roland Garros (Paris)"

The only problem that comes up in this instance ties into why Roland Garros moved its tournament where it is currently. Roland Garros has never had lights on its courts and only started building them (and a roof on Phillipe-Chatrier) last year. While the construction was expected to be done for this year’s tournament, they decided that they wouldn’t be scheduling night session matches until 2021.

This means that the tournament will be operating under much less daylight, therefore giving them less time in the day to schedule matches. It’s an important logistical reason for keeping the tournament where it is now. The end of September gets around 12-12.5 hours of light per day, in comparison to only 10-10.5 during the second half of October (a stark comparison to just around 16 hours in late May and early June).

Moving the event any further into October will jeopardize tournament play; every minute counts and losing hours out of the day will push the tournament an extra few days.

Final thoughts

While these proposed changes seem simple enough, it’s highly unlikely that any scheduling fixes will take place. Players will instead fight for an athlete exemption to the 14-day quarantine or make the difficult decision to skip one of the two Grand Slam events.

The next week is going to be huge for the ATP and WTA. There could be a radical shift in the entry field for both events and quite possibly a full cancellation. It’s up to the players to decide what their best interests are in order for the next two months to take shape.

The Western & Southern Open is scheduled to begin August 20th in New York, where the ATP will be having their first event of the restart.