“Disrupting the Calendar”: American Tennis Star Blasts Roland Garros and ATP on Management of Tournaments

Men’s tennis is controlled and governed by the Association of Tennis Professionals, commonly known as the ATP. It controls and handles the tour’s various events, the ATP Challenger Tour and ATP Champions Tour. On the other hand, the French Open, also known as Roland Garros, held in the city of Paris, was founded in 1891 and is organized by the French Tennis Federation.

Recently, these organizations received criticism from American tennis player Steve Johnson. He was particularly disgruntled by the recent decisions made by the ATP and Roland Garros.

Steve Johnson is disappointed by decisions made by the ATP and Roland Garros

Similar to last season, the French Open has been postponed. Last year, the organizers held the Grand Slam event in late September. Although, in the current season, the organizers have postponed the event only by a week which means the tournament will commence on May 30.

Taking note of this inconvenience, Johnson came down heavy and stated, “We players are always told ATP is such a great system cause we are “equal partners”. Well, what type of system allows Masters 1000 events to pay 60% less when BNP Paribas Open is trying to host their event at 100%. But can’t get approval because other tournament directors are ATP Board members and they want to benefit from these reductions?”

I feel compelled says Johnson

Steve was disappointed with the members of ATP for not allowing the organizers of the BNP Paribas Open to offer full prize money for players. He picked on Roland Garros for changing the dates for the event for a second consecutive year. Steve believes such decisions may lead to complications for the rest of the events of the tennis season, as it did last year.

The 2016 Olympic doubles Bronze medalist further added, “Roland Garros once again unilaterally decides to change the date of their event, disrupting the calendar to accommodate themselves without respect for the consequences and impact it has on the rest of tennis.”

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The pandemic and the health hazards and other complications brought on by it have extensively disrupted the tennis season over the past 12 months. However, with the help of restrictions, organizers have been successful to a certain extent in ensuring the smooth flow of tournaments. It will be interesting to see how things unfold as the effects of the pandemic still loom large.