Tsitsipas’ 2024 season has already come to an end. The Greek star failed to qualify for the ATP Finals for the first time since he made his debut appearance in 2019 and won the whole thing.
He is still in Turin as an alternate and could be called up if someone pulls out of the last remaining group stage matches on Friday. Otherwise, he is done and dusted until 2025.
After ending his year with a quarter-final run at the Paris Masters – one of the last remaining Masters events to be played over a week – he claimed the two-week editions had become a “drag” and resulted in worse quality tennis.
But Wawrinka had receipts. The three-time Major champion replied to Tsitsipas’ tweet with an official ATP Tour YouTube video filmed at the 2022 Italian Open.
It showed the Greek star sitting down with ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi and approving of the OneVision plan, which included the plan to extend the Masters 1000s to have bigger draw sizes and last at least 12 days.
But Tsitsipas hasn’t been deterred by Wawrinka’s response. During his time in Turin, he reiterated his discontent with the new Masters schedule and explained why he was happy to speak out.
“It’s been exhausting and this year was perhaps the most exhausting year that I’ve had on the tour,” the former ATP Finals champion told Sky Sports.
“It did take a mental toll on me to be at certain tournaments more than what I typically expect to be.”
Explaining why he wanted to publicly voice his opinion, Tsitsipas continued: “The Masters 1000 new concept hasn’t been great and I haven’t really been a huge fan of it and I’m willing to express it, I don’t mind because that’s my opinion.
“I really want to make it actually better for the rest of us to have a solid schedule, to have days that make sense in terms of competition.
“I guess my position in that is also to try and help tennis on its own and give my own opinions as a tennis player that is facing those challenges but also has to play these weekly tournaments and make it as efficient and as good as possible for the rest of us.”
Tsitsipas’ latest statement comes just one week after he aired his grievances on X (formerly known as Twitter). “It’s ironic that the @atptour committed to this format without knowing if it could actually improve the schedule, but the quality likewise,” he wrote last week.
“Paris got it right, done in a week. Exciting and easy to follow. Just how it’s supposed to be. If the goal was to ease the calendar, extending every 1000 to two weeks is a backwards move. Sometimes, it feels like they’re fixing what wasn’t broken.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk