Steve Johnson says tennis doesn't really have a proper offseason, but has another thing that other sports don't have, and that's being in a position to take "mini breaks" throughout the year.
For quite some time, players have complained that tennis has a brutal calendar and that finishing the season in November leaves them with little to no time to rest between two seasons.
On the Nothing Major Show, Sam Querrey said he was "convinced" that tennis didn't even have an offseason anymore because December was packed with exhibition tournaments. Johnson agreed with that one and added: "But in the tennis world, no, theres not really an offseason, theres a winter break, for us here in the States, you get a few weeks off and then go back to training."
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Johnson: You can take mini breaks... Three to four weeks at a time
Johnson, who spent 12 years on the Tour, fully agrees that players don't have much time between two seasons. However, the former four-time ATP champion doesn't see it as too big of an issue for one reason.
Everybody has their own method on how much time they want to take off, what they want to do in their three or four weeks to get better, to get healthy. But theres really no offseason, but guys can choose to play tournaments, you can take mini breaks throughout the year, you can take three, four weeks off at a time, it just depends on how you do your schedules," the former world No. 21 added.
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In late November, an exhibition tournament in Russia took place and featured several well-known ATP and WTA players. In early December, a UTS event was held in London. Also, there have been several exhibition tournaments taking place in the United States. Next week, the World Tennis League in India is taking place.
The start of the United Cup on January 2nd will also mark the start of the new season.
