Jannik Sinner Joins Taylor Fritz as US Open Swing Revamp Sparks Concerning Confession

Taylor Fritz didn’t join Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in skipping the Canadian Open for one simple reason. It is a Masters 1000 event. Had that not been the case, things, perhaps, could have been much different. After all, Fritz has been quite blunt about the downside of seven out of nine Masters 1000 events adding about a week each to what is already a gruelling schedule. “I mean, probably pretty much all the players for a long time have been asking for the season to be shorter, but all we are doing is just lengthening it, adding more stuff, we’re adding more, like, longer tournaments,” he said in Washington last month. And now, as the Cincinnati Open reaches its business end, Sinner, too, has shared his thoughts on the revamped schedule, and it doesn’t sound like he is a fan.

Sinner won his Cincinnati Open semifinal on Saturday, besting France’s Terence Atmane 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. He’s now set to face arch-rival Carlos Alcaraz in the summit clash on Monday. Yes, it’s because the final (typically taking place on Sunday) will now be played on Monday for the ongoing Masters tournament. During his press conference, he was asked about this exact transition. “This year, with the tournament changing, there’s an off day for the ATP players between the semifinal and the final. Do you like having that off day, or would you rather play the final tomorrow and just be done with the tournament?”

“It’s a question that’s quite irrelevant now to answer, you know, because we are in that position,” Sinner began with a sigh that screamed resignation. Yet, what followed didn’t leave much room for interpretation. “My personal view: I love the one-week events, you know,” he continued. “The tournament in Monaco, for example, you have for Monte Carlo you have this one-week event and you have the first-round matches that are incredibly good, you know, and if some good seeded player loses, the next match, it’s an incredible match still, you know.” 

The revamped schedule is also a bit disorienting for the Italian national. “And now I lost a little bit the view of when does actually a final is, you know, because it used to be always Sunday. Now, here, it’s Monday. In Toronto, it’s Wednesday or Thursday, you know. So it’s difficult even for us players. We lose a little bit the days of the week, you know, I would say.”

However, he also had a different perspective on the entire situation saying, “If I have a three-hour match today, tomorrow I have a day off, it’s good. If not, I would like to play tomorrow. Yes. But if I would have an incredibly long match today, I would love to play Monday, you know. So it always depends on the view.”

That’s something even Fritz had mentioned despite revealing disappointment over the Tour’s scheduling calls. “There are pros and cons to it. I think the thing I can say that’s the most in support of it on my side, I do like the format of play a day, day off, play a day,” he said during his stint at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. But then again, he still has some notes on what could make the schedule a little less challenging.

Taylor Fritz on what tweaks he would want in the ATP schedule

While sharing his views on how the calendar can be tweaked for players, Taylor Fritz revealed, “To be honest, the way I see it, if we’re going to have this stretch of three weeks, if we’re going to go back to how it used to be, one week each, if it’s going to mean we’re going to add another tournament, then I would be against it,” In this scenario, he won’t like to have one-week tournaments.

However, he suggested that if “we make these Masters 1000s one week and we can lengthen the off-season, to give those extra weeks back at the end of the season, and give us a six/seven week off-season rather than a four week off-season, that would be massive and I would be way in favor of doing the one week events.” reported Tennis Gazette on August 2. “But if they were just going to add another event in there, I’d say this format is probably better.”

Fritz has played continuously, in every event, for the last few months. During the grass season, he played the BOSS Open, where he won the title. Then, he went to the Queen’s Club for the HSBC Championships. In Eastbourne, he won another trophy on grass. Moving further, Fritz entered the All England Club last month, where he reached the semis.

Just days after Wimbledon, the World No.4 was in Washington, D.C., and then he flew to the Canadian Open in Toronto. This week, he was present in Cincinnati, where his campaign was short-lived, thanks to Terence Atmane edging him out in the third round with a scoreline of 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Despite the early exit, Taylor Fritz won’t get much break before resuming action. In New York, he is set to play mixed doubles, alongside Kazakh WTA star Elena Rybakina, before kicking off his singles campaign at the US Open.