'I get one week off the whole year': What can be done to fix the tennis season?

IN 2024, THE professional tennis season officially concluded on Dec. 22 when Joao Fonseca defeated Learner Tien for the title at the ATP Next Gen Finals in Saudi Arabia.

The 2025 season got underway on Dec. 27 for the United Cup in Australia. Both Fonseca and Tien were back on court on Dec. 30 for tournaments in Australia and Hong Kong, respectively.

"I don't know how the '25 season starts in '24," Jordan Thompson, the 2024 US Open doubles champion, said at the time. "I mean, it's a joke."

While Fonseca and Tien had about four weeks without sanctioned events before the Next Gen Finals, the five-day turnaround emphasized how little time professional tennis players have to rest, recover and prepare for a new season. There was just over one month between both the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup and the United Cup. The WTA Finals and the ATP Finals took place in mid-November.

The length of the season, and the relentless and globetrotting nature of the tour, has long been a complaint among players -- but it has intensified in recent years. Alex de Minaur blamed "feeling burned out" for an early exit at the French Open this year. Iga Swiatek criticized the demands of the "super intense" schedule when she was unable to play in a Billie Jean King Cup qualifier in the spring. During one day at the China Open in late September, five of the 12 scheduled matches ended in midmatch retirements.

Several players, including Frances Tiafoe, Danielle Collins, Jack Draper and Daria Kasatkina, shut down their seasons early this year, citing injuries and mental fatigue.

"Truth is, I've hit a wall and can't continue. I need a break. A break from the monotonous daily grind of life on the tour, the suitcases, the results, the pressure, the same faces (sorry, girls), everything that comes with this life," Kasatkina said in a post on social media. "The schedule is too much, mentally and emotionally I am at a breaking point and sadly, I am not alone."

As the 2025 season winds down and players almost immediately turn their attention to 2026, the conversation about the length and intensity of the tennis season will only continue. The big question is: Will anything change in the near future?

TOP-RANKED AMERICAN Taylor Fritz had a breakout season in 2024. After reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, he reached his first major final at the US Open. By season's end, he had won two ATP titles, reached four finals (including at the ATP Finals), captured an Olympic bronze medal in doubles with Tommy Paul and earned a new career-high ranking of No. 4.

But there would be no time to celebrate. And in fact, because he had done so well, it only extended his season, because he had secured an invite to the year-end ATP Finals and would play in the Davis Cup finals.

"There's no offseason, and if you're a top player, you actually get even less of an offseason," Fritz told ESPN in the spring. "If the season were to end in Paris [in early November] like it does for most players, then you get a month and a half before the season starts, maybe even a little more, I think maybe a week extra, but if you play the Tour Finals and Davis Cup, you're actually adding three more weeks onto it, and then if you play United Cup like I do, because you're top player, it starts earlier as well."

For Fritz that resulted in about three weeks between the end of his 2024 season and the start of his 2025 campaign. He returned home at the end of November and said he had to leave for Australia on Dec. 21. And, as he pointed out, there was a lot he had to do during that stretch.

"People don't understand you have to be training during that time," Fritz said. "The offseason is your time to train, so if I have three weeks, I take one week [to relax or go on vacation] and that's it. I get one week off the whole year. It's absurd."

Because many players use the time to implement any changes they want to make, whether technically or in terms of their coaching staff, it's a crucial period. But is it more important than having a chance to rest or recover after the physically demanding season on the road? That's up to each player to decide.

For some, the offseason, no matter how brief, marks one of the only times they are able to spend at home. That is especially true for those from Australia, who spend most of the season living out of a suitcase.

"For me when I come back to Australia, I just want to get down to the beach, chill out, take two weeks off the rackets," Thompson said at the start of the 2025 season. "But I've still got to do a lot of physical stuff to stay in shape. It is literally three weeks before you're back into tournament mode. You can't afford to have any slip-ups with that amount of time off physically."

Can a player find time during the season to take a break? Former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, 38, played only the major events this summer, skipping all of the ATP tournaments in June, July and August. His goal was to prioritize winning what would be a record-breaking 25th major title and to spend time with his family. But he's also in a rare position. He has said that he's unconcerned by his ranking at this stage of his career, and with over $190 million earned in on-court prize money, finances are hardly a worry either.

The tours require players to play a certain number of tournaments every year. Qualifying ATP players must play in all four majors, eight Masters 1000-level events and five 500-level tournaments, including one held after the US Open. Top WTA players also must play in the Grand Slams, in addition to 10 1000-level tournaments and six 500-level events. Seven of the 1000-level tournaments now last 12 days, with several recently extended from one week.

A player can be exempted from a major or the 1000-level tournaments due to an injury, but if a WTA player doesn't meet the six-tournament threshold for the 500-level events, they will be deducted ranking points. Current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Swiatek, in addition to others in the top 10 such as Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Madison Keys, lost points at the end of the 2024 season because they didn't play in the required number of tournaments. Swiatek, who had been No. 1 at the time, dropped to No. 2. ATP players who fail to meet the criteria could face reductions in end-of-season bonus pool earnings.

Many top players have been vocal about the impact of the length and requirements of the schedule, especially because they frequently reach the late stages of tournaments they play.

Swiatek, who had been playing in one of the injury-shortened matches at the China Open in September, was quick to blame the schedule after Camila Osorio, her opponent, retired following the first set of their match. She told reporters she would likely "have to choose some tournaments and skip them, even though they are mandatory" going forward.

"WTA, with all these mandatory rules, they made this pretty crazy for us," Swiatek said. "I don't think any top player will actually be able to achieve this, playing the six 500 tournaments. It's just impossible to squeeze it in the schedule.

"I think we have to be smart about it, not really, unfortunately, care about the rules and just think what's healthy for us. Yeah, it's tough."

Swiatek lost in her next match, then reached the quarterfinals in Wuhan before failing to make it out of the group stage at the WTA Finals.

The WTA and others in the sport have repeatedly pointed to the extended 1000-level tournaments as part of the way it would be able to ensure equal prize money at tournaments with their male counterparts.

"I always hear cries for more prize money, more prize money and this is what the tour's got to [do] -- to increase the prize money they've had to extend the length of these tournaments," said Anne Keothavong, a former player and captain of Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup team in a recent interview on Sky Sports. "So what is it you want?"

Gauff, the world No. 3, didn't disagree with that argument, but said it was "impossible" to meet all the requirements in a given year.

"I guess on a business standpoint, it can kind of make sense, but on a player-health standpoint, I don't really agree with it," Gauff said at the China Open. "I've basically played as much tennis as I possibly can and it's impossible to keep up with the six 500s. It's just impossible."

Gauff played in three 500-level tournaments in 2025, as did Sabalenka, Swiatek and Anisimova. Keys played in four. However, that didn't result in fewer matches. Swiatek played in a tour-leading 80 matches this season. Sabalenka appeared in 76 (as did WTA Finals champion Elena Rybakina), Gauff in 65, Anisimova in 63 and Keys in 53.

The state of the top players was on full display at the Shanghai Masters in October. Many complained about the brutal heat and humidity and others felt the weight of the long season.

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament began due to a left ankle injury. Second-ranked Jannik Sinner retired from his third-round match due to cramping. Djokovic vomited during his round of 32 match and needed treatment for a back injury during his loss in the semifinals. The final featured Valentin Vacherot, then-ranked No. 204 in the world and the ninth alternate in the qualifying draw, versus his cousin Arthur Rinderknech, then-ranked No. 40. An incredible story to be sure, but perhaps not the title clash the ATP was hoping for in one of its signature events.

LAST MONTH, THE ATP announced it would it be adding another Masters 1000-level tournament to its schedule as early as 2028, in Saudi Arabia. This will bring the total number in the category to 10, with nine of them mandatory. (Monte Carlo remains an optional event.) It remains unclear exactly when the tournament will take place during the already jam-packed schedule, or if women will be included as well.

The French Open, Australian Open and US Open have all added an additional day of play to the main draw in recent years, shifting the start day from Monday to Sunday. Several players voiced their opposition to it in New York this year as the US Open implemented it for the first time.

"I'm not really a fan of it," Jessica Pegula, currently ranked No. 6, said. "I don't know why they had to make it even longer. Well, I know why they did it -- they get to sell tickets for an extra day."

Brad Stine, the longtime coach of Tommy Paul, acknowledges that the debate around the length of the season is nothing new. He has been a coach at the professional level since 1990, when he began working with Jim Courier, and has heard it all over the years.

While Stine does believe the ATP and WTA should get rid of the "mandatory" distinction on tournaments, and ensure there is a week or two off after every Slam, he also believes players should be less "paranoid" about losing ranking points and skip tournaments whenever they feel they need a break.

"No one's required to play. You can take time off whenever you want to take time off," he said.

Furthermore, he thinks many of the players undermine their concerns by playing in the high-paying exhibitions during the offseason, or other breaks in the schedule.

"There doesn't seem to be a shortage of players looking to play those events," Stine told ESPN. "Some of them are the players that are proponents of a shorter season. 'We need more breaks, we need a shorter season.' But then when they're given an opportunity to have time off, they opt to play more events."

Alcaraz, one of the most vocal proponents of the need for a shorter season, played in the lucrative Six Kings Slam in October and is scheduled to play in several other exhibition events in December, including in New York, Newark and Miami. He was quick to dismiss the correlation.

"It's a different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically," Alcaraz said during a news conference at the Six Kings Slam. "We're just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and that's great, and why we choose the exhibitions.

"I understand [the criticism], but sometimes people don't understand us, our opinions. It's not really demanding mentally [compared with] when we're having such long events like two weeks or two-and-a-half weeks."

WHILE IT SEEMS most players believe something has to change, the specifics present a challenge.

"It just needs to be shortened up. It's too much," Fritz said when asked what should be changed. "It is just too much."

He added he didn't believe any changes would be forthcoming.

"I don't think we're being heard," he said. "I think you have myself, Carlos, and Sasha [Zverev], so three of the top four players in the world saying that it just needs to be shortened, and there hasn't been any talk of change really."

And it's not quite that simple. While it might sound logical to, say, end the season after the US Open with the year-end finals soon after, that leaves 12 WTA and 13 ATP tournaments (in addition to the Billie Jean King Cup, Davis Cup and Laver Cup) currently on the books without a spot on the calendar. Host organizations and cities pay a premium licensing fee in order to stage each event -- with prices varying depending on the level of the tournament -- and typically sign multiyear agreements to do so.

While changes have been few and far between, there have been some.

The Billie Jean King Cup final, played in November last year and in recent seasons, was moved to September to allow for a longer offseason for WTA players this year. It was also held in Shenzhen, China, for the first time, allowing many players to then seamlessly play in the Asian swing immediately after. (Playoffs to determine the qualifying teams for the 2026 tournament will be held from Nov. 14 through 16, however, and features 21 countries.) The Davis Cup kept its previous time slot and is scheduled to begin on Nov.18 in Bologna, Italy, and conclude on Nov. 23.

There have been discussions about bigger changes. In 2024, the four Grand Slams engaged in early conversations for a "Premier Tour," with an annual schedule that would consist of the majors, approximately 10 other events and a year-end final.

In response, the WTA and the ATP proposed a similar version of the idea to the Slams -- in an effort to "restructure the sport" -- in the spring of this year. Per The Athletic, that plan would also include the four majors, 10 1000-level events, 17 500-level events for the WTA and 16 for the ATP, and a reduction of 250-level tournaments through buybacks of licensing. It would ultimately decrease the number of tournaments between the two organizations from 118 to roughly 75. But the WTA and ATP failed to sell the Grand Slams on the idea, reportedly in part because of the proposed structure of the board to oversee the new venture.

But while dramatically transforming the sport might be off the table -- for now, at least -- there are other smaller ways to fix the problem. Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick contemplated moving the order of events in the fall schedule on a recent episode of his "Served" Podcast.

"Why can't [ATP 250-level tournaments like the Nordic Open and the European Open] exist after World Tour finals?" Roddick wondered. "Why can't we have a wraparound season where these [250s] go for a month [leading into the new year]? [If] more players want more opportunities, great, then go do it. And then the top players, if they choose to play Six Kings or some other exhibition, then they can't complain about the schedule being too long anymore because it's not wedged into the middle of the year. [As it is] they have to fill some space. They have to play something before World Tour Finals. If it ends in the back half of November, something's got to give. We have to have a goal to be done by Nov. 1."

The WTA and the ATP are not clueless to the complaints and concerns of their players. In a statement provided to ESPN, the WTA called athlete welfare a "top priority" and said the organization is in constant communication with players, including through the players' council and the representatives on the WTA Board.

"Following an extensive review, our player and tournament representatives voted to introduce enhancements to the tour's season structure in 2024," the WTA statement continued. "The updated structure delivers meaningful increases in player compensation ($400 million over the next several years), adds more competitive opportunities across all tiers of the tour, and establishes clearer player participation guidelines for top-ranked players to ensure stronger fields at the top events, all while making it easier for fans to follow and connect with the players and season."

The organization added it was "committed to keeping [the] tour structure under review."

When asked for comment, the ATP directed ESPN to an August interview with chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. In that, Gaudenzi called the calendar "complex" but said a goal of the ATP was to "extend the offseason." However he added that the ATP was one of many organizing bodies in professional tennis with say over the schedule and emphasized the individual nature of tennis.

"One player might be out in the first round, another is lifting the trophy after the final," Gaudenzi said. "Finding a solution that works for both ends of that spectrum is never straightforward, and you cannot build a calendar around just a single cohort of players. All cohorts must be considered."

But it's clear, no matter how far apart players and the powers that be seem to be on the schedule, the current situation is tenuous at best.

Djokovic, who spent several years on the ATP's player council and founded the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) in 2020, has long been a fierce critic of the current and evolving schedule and in his estimation has been speaking against it for "more than 15 years." But even he acknowledged it to be a "very complex" topic when asked about it ahead of the Shanghai Masters event in October.