Dan Evans is the latest player to speak about the ATP and WTA tennis schedule.
The likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek criticised the number of tournaments on the tour and claimed the players will suffer from burnout.
But former World number five Evans has shared a view from a different perspective and claimed players should be grateful for the opportunity to play tennis at the highest level.
Furthermore, he claimed those who have complained about the schedule do not need to play as often as they do, while also explaining a difference in the game now from a decade ago.
Dan Evans says something has changed about tennis from 10 years ago
10 years ago the ATP Tour looked very different to what it is now. Novak Djokovic won three Grand Slams in a year for the second time, while Andy Murray beat Rafael Nadal to win his first title on clay.
While Djokovic is still a top 10 player, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are now the dominant forces in men’s tennis.
But Dan Evans noticed another difference from a decade ago and it concerns the tournaments that take place in the build-up to Grand Slams.
“Everybody is entitled to their opinion on the schedule, but the tour has been like that for however many years,” he said.
“The top, top guys schedule properly, and that’s, you know, that’s I guess what’s part of the issue, I imagine, is how people schedule how many weeks they want to play, how many weeks they don’t want to play.
“Me personally, I see the weeks before Grand Slams are way stronger than they were maybe ten years ago. There are more top players playing.
“I don’t know if that’s to try and pick up cheap points, but, you know, there are these massive teams now. They are allowed to have some input into it.”
Dan Evans disagrees with Jack Draper on the tennis schedule
While Evans spoke out in favour of the long tennis schedule, his compatriot Jack Draper expressed his concerns.
In 2024, Draper reached the US Open semi-finals but he was due to represent Britain in the Davis Cup winner just four days later.
At the time, the British number one spoke out on the short turnaround between certain events and expressed the harm it could do to players.
“It’s a mental calendar,” Draper said in September 2024. “It’s my opinion that it’s going to be very hard for players of my age to achieve longevity any more.
“If you look at how many tournaments I’ve played this year, it’s hopefully 25, 26 for the first time. That’s a big positive in itself – this is my first proper year on tour.
“It’s definitely tough, but my team want the best for me, they want me to stay injury-free, to look after my body and mind.”
