Masters, we knew thee well.

[Jelenafan]

Andrey Rublev Believes The ATP’s New Masters Format Has Both Pros And Cons

Andrey Rublev has mixed feelings about Rome and Madrid becoming the latest Masters 1000 events to be expanded on the Tour. This year is the first time the European clay events are being held over two weeks with an expanded draw that allows more players to participate. There are now four Masters...

www.ubitennis.net

OK, unlike the Slams the Masters 1000 are under the provenance of the ATP, so i can see how they are being made bigger and more of an Event.

Beautiful Hair has some points to be made, but lets be real, that extra week the players would bag another 250 or 500 tournament to play regardless, so there would be mental & physical fatigue happening either way. Increase the payouts and the players will complain less (maybe up the computer points?)

The biggest positive takeaway IMO is that having rest days in between could reduce the chance of injuries.


OToH, being a tennis fan sadist, ngl i will miss the unique physical challenge the Masters presents of playing top opponents up to 5 or even 6 consecutive days. Last years Paris Masters Little Holger beat top 10 opponents in 5 consecutive days, alas that will go away.

Plus this Italian: both Rune & Rude won Wednesday BO3 and don't have to play again until Saturday, really??

So my last point, there is now no valid excuse not to make both the men AND the women finals best of five set matches, as there is ample time to recover after that. In IW/Miami and the Madrid/Rome runups (and in the future Cincy/Canada) you can take now up to 4/5 days for the finalists to play the first round match of the 2nd Masters after the conclusion of the 1st one.

Agree/Disagree?

 

[mrzz]

Definitely agree with ATP masters being Bo5 (at the least these four). I would first make the case for the ATP finals (this is a no-brainer honestly).

I'll put it another way: take a random ATP 250. Make the final Bo5. Next thing you know this is an important tournament.

 

[don_fabio]

If they really want Masters to be premium events with this stretched format then they could definitely bring back bo5 final.

On the other hand it does feel that tournaments are a bit dragged, they seem to last forever, so I miss that feeling when your favourite players are battling every day in a row until the very end of the tournament. Like this players need to stay in competition for longer time which might make them tired more mentally.

As for injuries, I believe it's easier on players to have rest days like in slams.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

If they really want Masters to be premium events with this stretched format then they could definitely bring back bo5 final.

On the other hand it does feel that tournaments are a bit dragged, they seem to last forever, so I miss that feeling when your favourite players are battling every day in a row until the very end of the tournament. Like this players need to stay in competition for longer time which might make them tired more mentally.

As for injuries, I believe it's easier on players to have rest days like in slams.

Thanks Don,

I have always favored bringing back the best of 5 final in Masters, maybe I am being 'old school"
I also feel players lose their momentum when they have to wait eg Rome at the moment playing a QF and some players are waiting 3 days days to play their S/fnal?