The scheduling of the Masters 1000 events has been a major topic of debate for years now. Many believe that the credibility and importance of such tournaments have decreased because of their frequency. Now, ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi has come under intense scrutiny over the matter, with French journalist Benoit Maylin making a strong claim.

“Gaudenzi is killing tennis,” he said on Sans Filet. “Before, the M1000s were sacred. Now, the players couldn’t care less. They’ll get their bonus at the end of the season, and they manage their fitness because they’ve got to chain two M1000s in 12 days and a Grand Slam tournament.”

This statement comes as the Masters 1000 events are underway in Canada, and the Cincinnati Masters will begin soon. While the Masters events in Montreal and Toronto had begun on August 2, the tournament in Cincinnati is set to commence on August 13, just 11 days later. This kind of scheduling only increases the risk of injuries for the players. It also impacts their performance, and they find it difficult to recover after being involved in a tiring match.

A total of nine Masters events are held in a season, beginning with the Indian Wells in March, and the final event of the season is held in Paris in November. Though many feel that scheduling Masters events one after another can be very tiring for players, Gaudenzi has defended the demanding schedule, stating that players can choose which tournaments they need to play.

“Tennis is quite unique in that a player can play one match or seven matches in two weeks,” he told reporters in October 2025. “We operate in an environment where players are independent contractors, and they choose their own schedules. Some who go deep at big events play fewer tournaments; others need more because they lose earlier and need matches.”

The Masters events are still considered to be the most important tournaments on the ATP/WTA calendar. These are the tournaments that provide players with the most points aside from the Grand Slams. The total prize pool of these events is also massive, and the majority of the top-ranked players participate in them.

There are plans to add a 10th Masters event to the calendar as well. It will be hosted by Saudi Arabia and is expected to be added to the Tour as early as 2028. Moreover, it is expected to take place in February after the Australian Open. The addition of this tournament will only make the Tour even more demanding, as this will be yet another event where most of the prominent players would participate.

Several players are already unhappy with the way the Tour is scheduled, and they certainly won’t be happy seeing the addition of another Masters event. One of the leading voices against the scheduling of the Tour has been none other than Carlos Alcaraz.

Carlos Alcaraz has criticized the ATP on tour scheduling

Alcaraz had sparked attention in 2024 when he said that he is often not motivated to compete at tournaments due to the grueling schedule. He had even joked that the demanding calendar is trying to “kill” the players in some way.

“Sometimes I didn’t feel motivated at all,” he had said in a press conference in September of 2024. “It is a difficult moment. As I said many times, you know, the calendar is so tight, a lot of tournaments, no days off or not as many days off as I want.

“Probably during the next few years gonna be even more tournaments, more mandatory tournaments. So, I mean, probably they are going to kill us in some way.”

Alcaraz had doubled down on these comments in 2025. He had called out the ATP for not making any change to the calendar even though it was clear that players don’t get enough time to rest or prepare for tournaments because they are scheduled one after another.

“They have to do something with the calendar,” he had said before the 2025 Paris Masters. “The amount of tournaments we have to play, I think it is too high. We don’t have such a good period of time where we can practice and we can rest. Even during the season, it is week after week after week, and we don’t have the chance to have a week to prepare well for the tournaments or what we have ahead in the season.”

But it seems that Alcaraz’s pleas have fallen on deaf ears as it doesn’t appear that the ATP or WTA will be changing the scheduling of the Tour anytime soon. Instead, they are looking to add even more tournaments in the near future, which will further increase player fatigue.