The relentless grind of the professional tennis calendar has become one of the most pressing issues in the sport, with a growing chorus of players citing burnout and injury from a schedule that stretches across eleven months of the year. Even Coco Gauff has been openly critical of the WTA’s demanding schedule, stating that its mandatory tournament rules are unsustainable from a player health perspective. “Yeah, I mean, obviously with the mandatory rules, I know why it’s in place with prize money and everything. Do I agree with them? I mean, I guess on a business point, it can kind of make sense. But on, like, a player health standpoint, I don’t really agree with it,” the American said.

Top competitors like Alex de Minaur have attributed early exits at major tournaments to feeling “burned out,” while others, including Jack Draper, warn of “mental” burnout from the constant travel and lack of a meaningful off-season.  This player frustration exists alongside a commercial landscape that continues to expand, with the ATP adding a new Masters 1000 event and extending existing ones to twelve days, creating a complex conflict between athletic welfare and the business of the sport. In this heated debate, a compelling and clear-eyed solution has come from an authoritative voice within the tennis establishment.

Weighing in on the conversation, former British No. 1 and ATP pro Tim Henman has offered a stark critique, as seen on Sky Sports Tennis on X. “I think also the conversation around the idea that there’s no tennis for the fans, and for me there’s too much irrelevant tennis at times in the calendar, and when they talk about February, you know, historically on the ATP tour there’s been 12 tournaments in four weeks,” he said, elaborating on the current schedule. He continued his criticism, adding, “You know, what does that mean when you’ve got Sinner playing here and Alcaraz there and Zverev here and Djokovic over there, it doesn’t provide a clear narrative for the fan.”

For Henman, the solution is counterintuitive yet simple, as he said, “And so for me, the idea at the highest level of certain weeks where there is no tennis, I think is a good thing for everybody, because it gives the players an opportunity to rest. It gives the fans sort of the chance to build the excitement about the next tournament that’s on the calendar, and that’s where, you know, I think we need to.”

Furthermore, he points to the more streamlined structure of Formula 1 as a model, where a focused season of 24 races currently with clear gaps in between makes the sport easy to follow. “I’m not necessarily a massive F1 fan, but it’s pretty easy to follow, you know, every couple of weekends there’s a race, and there’s 20-something races, and at the end you add up those points, but you’ve got the gaps in between,” the Brit said.

Central to Henman’s argument is a direct challenge to the ATP’s commercial strategy of extending top-tier events. He explicitly stated, “And I think we’ve got great assets in this sport, led by the four Grand Slams, the Masters thousands, they are good concepts to get the best players, I don’t agree with the 12 days, I think they should be shorter to eight or nine days, you get two weekends, and then when you package that together, it’s much easier for the players to compete at their very highest level, but rest and recover, and then you can build that product.”

Ultimately, the debate over the tennis calendar is a struggle for the sport’s soul, pitting commercial growth and volume against the long-term health of its athletes and the clarity of its product. Apart from Coco Gauff, even other tennis veterans have spoken out about this issue.

Just like Coco Gauff, this pro also had similar concerns with the tennis scheduling

Recently, the 35-year-old German tennis star Jan-Lennard Struff shared his thoughts on the scheduling issues, saying, “I think we’re all good actors, too. We athletes and tennis players. I don’t think that everyone feels good all the time, absolutely not. In a year, when I play around 50 matches, I’d say for 5 or 6 of them it is 100% great. The rest is just about dealing with what’s available, dealing with what I have today, what I can play, how I’m feeling mentally, and pushing through.”

He pointed out that for most of the season, players aren’t really at their best. Instead, they’re just trying to manage and endure, hiding their physical and mental challenges to meet their professional duties. This situation isn’t just happening on the ATP tour; WTA players are speaking out about the tough grind, too. For sure, Coco Gauff wasn’t the only one affected by the scheduling; there are others.

Daria Kasatkina from Australia decided to wrap up her 2025 season a bit early, saying she was “at breaking point” from all the “emotional and mental stress” that comes with the nonstop circuit. She pointed out that she’s not the only one feeling this way, and world number two Iga Swiatek echoed her thoughts, describing the mandatory tournament schedule as “impossible” and suggesting that players might need to overlook the rules for their own well-being. We’ll just have to wait and see if the ATP and WTA decide to address these complaints.