MASON, Ohio — Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz lamented the grueling North American leg of the tennis calendar Tuesday ahead of the Cincinnati Open.
The two top men’s players were asked about the calendar during media availability for the Masters 1000 tournament. Zverev said the tour’s decision to extend the Canadian and Cincinnati opens to two-week tournaments has led some players to prioritize one over the other.
“I think that’s what two-week events do, unfortunately. Especially if there’s a Slam coming after that,” Zverev said.
The North American tennis calendar pits back-to-back Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati ahead of this month’s US Open, the final Grand Slam on the calendar. Both ATP events were one-week tournaments until last year, when they expanded to 96-player fields and turned into two-week events.
Fritz stopped short of saying that players are prioritizing one event, but did say that two-week tournaments have led to players dropping out of other events.
“It is very hard to play an extended event, go deep in one, and then go straight to the next one, and then also go deep in that one. It’s not easy,” Fritz said. “It was a bit easier when it was just one week, one week. But now it’s a two-week stretch.”
The comments from the two come just weeks after Jannik Sinner lost a chance at history by withdrawing from the Canadian Open. Sinner was on a path to become the first player to win all Masters 1000 tournaments in the same calendar year after winning the first five at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome. On Sunday, Sinner announced that he was also withdrawing from the Cincinnati Open due to a knee injury.
A Quick Fix?
The North American leg of the tennis calendar runs for about seven weeks, starting with the DC Open in late July and finishing after the US Open in mid-September. (The tennis calendar also comes to the U.S. in March during the Sunshine Double, two 2-week Masters 1000 tournaments.)
Zverev said it is “quite a long time” to be in the region.
“I think that’s why a lot of top players, they choose not to play Canada for multiple weeks now. That’s unfortunately the sad reality of it,” Zverev said.
He said there was an “easy fix” to the problem: return to the previous, shorter format. However, the belief is that shorter tournaments may mean less prize money.
The extended tournaments have allowed the ATP to increase prize money across the board, with longer tournaments giving lower-ranked players more opportunities to make the main draw and win significant money. In January, the Tour also announced a 25% increase in its Masters 1000 profit sharing bonus for 2025 ($18.3 million), with another $3.2 million increase for 2026.
Asked whether he would be willing to take less money if the tournaments were shortened, Zverev pushed back. He cited the Rome Masters, which he won in 2017 and 2024. Zverev said he made more money for his 2017 win than his 2024 win.
“I got less money for winning the same tournament seven years later than I did seven years prior. I don’t think it’s less money if you win, necessarily.”
(According to the ATP Tour website, Zverev earned €820,035 for his 2017 win in Rome, less than the €963,225 he earned in 2024.)
Fritz, who lost his first match in Canada after winning the DC Open two days earlier, was more resigned to the hectic schedule of the entire tennis calendar.
“To be honest, that’s a lot of the year. If you do really well at one tournament, it’s a very tough turnaround to go play the next one,” Fritz said.
