Andy Roddick says what the ATP are doing is ‘absolute insanity’ as he says ‘simple fix’ is staring them right in the face

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The 2025 ATP Tour season is well underway as players compete all over the world for the sport’s biggest prizes.

Following an exciting Australian Open, the stars of the ATP Tour ventured off to Asia, North America, South America, and Europe, to compete in tournaments for vital ranking points.

Last week, Andrey Rublev won the Qatar Open ATP 500 event, while Sebastian Baez defended his title in Rio de Janeiro.

Now, the best in men’s tennis are split across three tournaments; Acapulco [Mexico], Santiago [Chile], and Dubai [UAE].

Three top ten stars will be competing in Acapulco for the Mexican Open, as Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, and Tommy Paul look to be strong contenders for the title.

The hectic tennis schedule continues, as one former ATP star comments on the big problem that he thinks could easily be fixed.

Andy Roddick’s idea for the ATP Tour schedule that would be a ‘simple fix’

Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Jon Wertheim revealed some big news that may seriously impact the tennis calendar.

“I’ve been told that in the next few weeks we will finally get this announcement about the tenth Masters 1000 level event, Saudi Arabia is going to get it,” he said.

“It’s likely to be in February which will save Craig Tiley [Australian Open tournament director] and his January, will create a little Middle Eastern swing in February with Dubai and Doha.”

Former world number one Andy Roddick then reacted to the news, arguing that the ATP Tour doesn’t care about the schedule problems.

“I don’t believe anything they say as far as wanting to fix the schedule, because actions and words, so fine do whatever you want, another Masters 1000, not mandatory, whatever, but this lip service about wanting to fix the schedule ‘it’s a priority’,” he said.

“No, not enough.”

Roddick then suggested a ‘simple fix’ to the problem, that involves ATP 250 tournaments.

“There’s a simple fix guys, you want me to fix everything?” he said.

“[ATP] 250s are irrelevant to the eight players that are qualifying for world tour finals, they don’t affect qualification, and for the one in ten years that someone might sneak in by 20 points on a 250, should that dictate anything as far as scheduling?

“Move World Tour Finals up one month, all the 250s in the fall, put them on the back-end of the World Tour Finals, right, put them in November.”

The American star is confident that the move would prove beneficial for the ATP 250 events and thinks they could still attract some big names.

“If you put a month load of 250’s at the end of the year, five weeks of 250’s, if I’m 70 or 80 in the world, I want to play because those 250s matter for my ranking,” said Roddick.

“Those fields are going to be stronger without the competition of Masters 1000’s, ATP 500’s, ATP Finals, who loses in this situation?

“You’re going to get [Andrey] Rublev, sneaking in there to play, these guys can’t help themselves, you’re going to get really good players, they can go if they want to.”

How many ATP 250 events did the top ten play in 2024?

Roddick believes ATP 250 events didn’t affect qualification to Turin’s ATP Finals in 2024, but was that really the case?

Excluding ATP 250 points earned, the same eight players would still have qualified for the year-end finals, under the current ranking system.

Therefore, it seems as though Roddick’s idea could prove a successful one, and it remains to be seen whether the ATP Tour takes on his advice.

Jon Wertheim thinks Saudi Arabian Masters 1000 would be ‘devastating’ for South American clay events

Many of the tour’s clay-court specialists took their talents to South America in February to participate in the ‘Golden Swing’ tournaments.

Joao Fonseca won the Argentina Open before Sebastian Baez won the Rio Open, as fans on the continent enjoyed some thrilling entertainment.

Wertheim is concerned that the introduction of a new February Masters 1000 event in Saudi Arabia could spell trouble for the Golden Swing.

“It will be devastating to the other February events, not least the ones in South America,” he said.

“The events in South America really distinguished themselves, I think people realized in some ways this is pro-tennis at its best.

“Engaged fans, they’re watching doubles, they’re doing the wave, this is not the half-empty stands with prize money at the end, this was an engaged atmosphere.

“I worry what is going to happen to that, when you have three events including a 1000-level in 2028 or whenever it starts, in Saudi Arabia.”

Roddick agreed as he suggested the events could be replaced altogether.

“I’m positive if they’re adding a whole other swing and another Masters 1000, then they’re obviously taking something away at the back-end of the schedule,” he said.

2025’s final ATP event on the South American clay is currently underway in Santiago, Chile, where Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo is the number-one seed.