Two-week Masters 1000 events have become the norm in tennis, and they do not look like going away anytime soon.
The Madrid Open is the latest in the schedule, with the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments in Spain now reaching their closing stages.
But they seemingly started an age ago, much to the frustration of players and fans alike.
Monotony is very much a common theme throughout the 12 days, with the same situation set to occur at the Italian Open before the calendar turns to the French Open.
Scrapping two-week Masters events is the ideal solution, but the WTA and ATP face a real problem if they want to go down that route.
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WTA and ATP face problem about scrapping two-week Masters events
While the events seem to drag on and, more importantly, are faced with endless withdrawals, the tournaments simply wouldn’t vote for a reduced timeline now.
The action itself is often poor for viewers, with pullouts and the lack of exciting matches early on making the product less entertaining in general.
But more matches mean more sponsorships, more TV deals and more ticket sales for the tournaments, which would simply miss out on huge revenue if the events were shortened.
Such a scenario suggests it has now become essentially impossible for the scrapping of the two-week tournaments, which is far from ideal.
More time for rest and recovery between tournaments could produce higher-quality and more entertaining tennis, but one-week events could unfortunately quickly become a thing of the past.
What have current and former players said about two-week Masters events?
Miami Open tournament director James Blake perfectly summarised the frustrating situation earlier this year.
Blake appreciates two-week Masters events as a tournament director, but certainly not as a former player, which simply highlights the losing battle that current stars are having with the busy schedule.
ATP ace Alexander Zverev believes players love one-week events, while former player John Isner thinks fans lose interest during two-week tournaments.
The criticism won’t end now, but neither will the current format as long as the opportunities to make more money are there.
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