Ideal Tennis Tournament Schedule

[Jelenafan]

I never thought we should be fooling around w/ the calendar like that! It was bad enough when they added weeks between FO & Wimbledon! I liked the original schedule which made it more impressive winning back to back! Now it's nothing as 3 players have won the Channel Slam; facilitated by that huge break to acclimate to grass! Hard to believe how Borg & Evert won it back it the 70's after winning Paris, they had 6 days before Wimbledon's 1st round; Often enough, Borg had to be there early to open the tournament that Monday afternoon! There are 4 events to get ready these days even though courts have been homogenized to make baseliners like Nadal and Djokovic winners w/ 9 Chp. between them! Borg doing it season after season playing w/ a stick elevates him above all others to this day! Nadal's had all kinds of warm-ups, but hasn't taken a WImbledon title since 2010, defeating Berdych who upset Federer!

Still promoting that urban legend, Fiero?

Tournament Dates:
1978 French Open May 29-June 11
1978 Wimbledon June 26-July 8

1979 French Open May 28-June 11
1979 Wimbledon June 25-July 7

1980 French Open May 26-June 8
1980 Wimbledon June 23-July 5, 1980

In those days there were 2 weeks between the start of Wimbledon and the end of the French Open

Let's go back to the first Open tournaments in 1968

1968 French Open May 27-June 9
1968 Wimbledon June 24-July 6

So for example, both Borg and Nadal won their Channel Doubles with two weeks between tournaments..

That one week gap , maybe you are confusing with the 1930's or '40 or 1950"s ?

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

2024 would be a great opportunity to play around with the schedule, especially with the Olympics held on Paris Clay. Without any changes to the schedule, the 2024 schedule would look like this:

May 26 - June 9: French Open (on Paris clay)
July 1 - July 14: Wimbledon (on grass)
July 27 - August 4: Olympics (on Paris clay)

Obviously, going from clay to grass to clay makes zero sense. We could experiment with a mid-season break between the 2024 FO and Olympics, move Wimbledon to after the Olympics (either August 12-August 25 or August 19-September 1), then have the US Open series in September to early October, followed by the US Open on October 7-October 21. If this improves the quality of tennis at Wimbledon and the US Open (especially in the women's game), we can keep this schedule going forward [in 2025, we just plug in the grass warm-ups in place of the Olympics]. Otherwise, we can always revert back to the normal schedule.

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

I’m not a huge fan of the tours going to China at this time of the year. I’d much rather alternate between Indian Wells (or whatever this turns into when Larry Ellison sells it) on odd years and Rome/French Open on even years in late September/early October after the US Open. It would keep me interested in tennis between the US Open and the ATP/WTA Finals.

 

[Kieran]

I’m not a huge fan of the tours going to China at this time of the year. I’d much rather alternate between Indian Wells (or whatever this turns into when Larry Ellison sells it) on odd years and Rome/French Open on even years in late September/early October after the US Open. It would keep me interested in tennis between the US Open and the ATP/WTA Finals.

You’d move Rome AND the FO to autumn? They’re both staples of the classic tennis calendar!

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

You’d move Rome AND the FO to autumn? They’re both staples of the classic tennis calendar!

I'd definitely be for it at least during Olympic years. Having 2 slams (instead of just one) after the Olympics give players (especially those retiring) something more to play for in the months after the games. Plus, tennis loses a lot of momentum among casual fans after the US Open, so having a big carrot like IW or the French Open could do a lot better in keeping up that momentum. The only concern would be injuries because people are torn up at the end of summer as it is.

We already got a glimpse of this in 2020 (when Rome was in September and the FO in October) and 2021 (when IW was in October). I thought it was great for tennis.

 

[Kieran]

I'd definitely be for it at least during Olympic years. Having 2 slams (instead of just one) after the Olympics give players (especially those retiring) something more to play for in the months after the games. Plus, tennis loses a lot of momentum among casual fans after the US Open, so having a big carrot like IW or the French Open could do a lot better in keeping up that momentum. The only concern would be injuries because people are torn up at the end of summer as it is.

We already got a glimpse of this in 2020 (when Rome was in September and the FO in October) and 2021 (when IW was in October). I thought it was great for tennis.

So why not play the US Open on the last week of October and the first week of November?

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

So why not play the US Open on the last week of October and the first week of November?

I'd love it if the US Open were played in October, but it's never going to happen because of the American football season.

 

[Kieran]

I'd love it if the US Open were played in October, but it's never going to happen because of the American football season.

You know that there’s football seasons in France and Italy?

 

[the AntiPusher]

You’d move Rome AND the FO to autumn? They’re both staples of the classic tennis calendar!

Hmmm

 

[Moxie]

I'd definitely be for it at least during Olympic years. Having 2 slams (instead of just one) after the Olympics give players (especially those retiring) something more to play for in the months after the games. Plus, tennis loses a lot of momentum among casual fans after the US Open, so having a big carrot like IW or the French Open could do a lot better in keeping up that momentum. The only concern would be injuries because people are torn up at the end of summer as it is.

We already got a glimpse of this in 2020 (when Rome was in September and the FO in October) and 2021 (when IW was in October). I thought it was great for tennis.

I do find all of your ideas about the calendar intriguing, even when I don't agree with them. Perhaps we need a thread to discuss calendar changes.

One thing I disagree with you on is that tennis loses casual fans. Most casual fans tune in for Majors only. Most especially because that's what they have access to, and they're the famous ones. I don't watch golf, generally, but I pay attention to the Majors. So they don't really matter. Sure, the calendar is front-loaded with Majors in the first 6.5 months, but I would argue that the rhythm of the calendar benefits the players, too. The end of the year tapers down a bit, and culminates in the YEC.

If you move Rome and the FO to after the USO, I have two questions: a) what do you put between the AO and Wimbledon? (Though, this would allow for a grass MS1000, if they could find a facility to accommodate it.) And b) while Rome is nice in the autumn, Paris is a bit cooler and wetter. Also, it has about 4 fewer hours of available daylight. They have lights now, and roofs, but you'd considerably change the character of the tournament.

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

I don't know what the right solution is, but all I know is that the WTA needs to do better with the fall schedule. Whether that be bringing something like the Virginia Slims tournaments back in the day to fill in the fall schedule or just moving the WTA Finals up to 2 weeks after the US Open (in this case, end the season in September and start up again in late November/early December), anything is better than the god awful product that's been on display after the US Open.

The fall is a great time of year to watch tennis, and I would prefer to watch WTA tennis, but if they do nothing about this, I might just watch high school girls tennis matches instead.

 

[Fiero425]

After all this time, I still think schedule changes are to accommodate just a handful of players who actually win a lot! Only special players like Novak seem to be able to overcome the stress of it all ATM as exampled by his many seasons taking most of the top events! IDK what the ATP will inevitably do, but I'm sure it'll be a colossal clusterfk.up since Fedalovic are almost off the tour! W/ how Djokovic shedules himself, he played just 12 events this season, winning 7, & 4 of the top 5 events! Is it really worth fooling around w/ the schedule that much?