“We do have the longest season in sports. I mean, I have said it before. It’s unnecessarily long. We have unnecessarily, you know, we have an unnecessary amount of tournaments,” said Alexander Zverev earlier this year. Even former World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, on the WTA side, have expressed their distaste towards an excruciatingly long schedule. Now, a former WTA pro and Serena Williams’ ex-coach has weighed in on this issue. All while suggesting a possible solution.

In an episode of The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, dated December 10, Stubbs reflected on the escalating issue of an extremely long calendar for both WTA and ATP players. Especially, the ones who are in the top 50. Per the former Australian pro, the season should be considered over after the last major event in September. Unfortunately, it’s not the case as of now and it’s bothering Stubbs now.

She said that “after the US Open, tennis needs to stop”. Continuing further, she added, “The calendar tournaments need to stop as far as the WTA ATP. I think you need to have 125s, 250s for players outside of say the top 50. But everybody else, I think we need to have some team events and some exos and fun and make sure these players are making a sh-t ton of money.”

She asserted on having a global team-based event at the end of season. One, that can replace the need to have constant, individual ATP/WTA tours across different locations till the year-end. She cited events like the United Cup, Hottman Cup, Davis Cup, and the Billie Jean King Cup. But according to her, there’s a need for a bigger event, like a World Cup involving teams of the top 50 players only.

“You make everything a team event and make everything fun for these players. You take maybe one player, I think we discussed this last week, but one player from the top 10, one player from the top 20, one player from the top 30, 40, and 50, and you make a team of that,” she said in the podcast.

One of her co-hosts then asked if she was suggesting for a World Team Tennis-like event. Stubbs responded saying, “Kind of a little bit like world team tennis and you make a team out of it and then you can exchange them in and out in singles and doubles and mixed doubles and you actually have teams.” Per the ex-WTA pro, such an event will act like “a true World Cup, right? So one person from each top 10, top 20, top 30 has to be picked in a team.” And this way, “everyone in the top 50 is taken care of”.

As far as the officials are concerned, they think players do have an option to choose. And that there’s no stress on them to continue playing every tournament. Take for example, the CEO of WTA tour.

WTA Tour CEO Portia Archer suggests players are not bound to play more

Earlier this year, the new WTA Tour CEO came forward to provide justification for a busy tennis schedule. “There is no question the professional tennis season is long, and we recognize the demanding schedule experienced, especially, by players competing at the highest level. … The new schedule, which was developed in consultation with representatives of players and tournaments, does not require players (on average) to play more than they would have played in previous years, but provides more predictability for the top players and better pathways for aspiring players,” she said, as reported Associated Press on August 28.

Per Archer, “The WTA will continue to listen to player and tournament feedback and will be open to making adjustments in the future as may be appropriate.”

Her response came after Iga Swiatek had expressed a disappointment towards the hectic nature of tennis calendar. “We don’t have time to work on stuff or live peacefully,” she said while explaining it’s “because from one tournament we’re going straight to another.” This statement from her came during the US Open in late August.

It will be intriguing to see if there will be a better solution introduced regarding the current situation. Do you also believe tennis has the most exhausting and longest calendar compared to other sports? Let us know in the comments below.