John and Patrick McEnroe have both had their say on the scheduling of the tennis calendar, coming to a unanimous decision.
Their thoughts were far from unpopular either, echoing the sentiment that so many players have complained about in the last few years.
It feels like as the sport grows the demand on the athletes only increases, pushing these athletes, who are already performing superhuman feats of physical exertion, to new heights.
Eventually, something dangerous will happen, with a few cautionary tales having already emerged.
Fortunately, Patrick has heard something that could ease the burden somewhat.
John McEnroe complains about tennis scheduling
Speaking live on TNT Sports’ US coverage, they took a moment amidst the chaos of Jack Draper’s win over Joao Fonseca to discuss the ongoing scheduling problem tennis seems to have.
Alexei Popyrin has complained about the tennis calendar, as has Carlos Alcaraz, and now John McEnroe has echoed their concerns. He claimed: ‘A lot of players, mainly the ones that have lost complaining about the schedule. We’ve been talking about that for 40-50 years.

‘If they moved the Australian to later, that would give more time, but they don’t want to give that up. The January slot. What do you think, in March?’
Patrick McEnroe offered a solution: ‘I’m hearing rumblings that it could move to February.’
‘That would be helpful,’ John replied.
However, Pat was not completely optimistic: ‘Of course, there’d probably be another big tournament put in in early January, that’s part of potentially the plan. Middle East hello?
‘It’s pretty typical of all sports like in the NBA you see players taking nights off under contract. In tennis the difference is you don’t play you don’t get paid. No guaranteed contracts. Top players have big endorsement deals but even those normally have stipulations that the players have to play certain events or be ranked at a certain spot to collect the money.’
John then ended their chat with a simple message, noting: ‘Players should be able to play when they want, do what’s best for themselves.’
Tennis needs to protect its stars
As noted earlier, tennis must protect its stars rather than work them harder and harder.
They are the money-makers within the sport, and thus should always be given preferential treatment.
And yet, the stranglehold that the ATP and WTA seem to have over them is strange, thus explaining Novak Djokovic’s formation of the PTPA.

A sort of union for players, this marks a big step in the right direction towards lessening the physical turmoil exacted upon the players.
At the moment, they are given just a slender month or so to enjoy some downtime before the season starts right back up again. It’s unsustainable, and wholesale changes must be made before it’s too late.