ELina Svitolina simply could not continue. Her hopeful start to the 2025 season gave way to despair as the mental and emotional strain of constant competition, travel and stress took its toll. The 31-year-old athlete understood that the competition would only worsen the situation, and in September Svitolina decided to end the season early, citing burnout.
The world number fourteen is not the only one who is choking on his sport. It's been another year filled with incredible performances and exciting matches, but the last 11 months have also been marked by physical and mental ailments affecting many of the sport's stars.
Jack Draper, Zheng Qingwen, Holger Rune and Arthur Fils were forced off the pitch with serious long-term injuries. Others, such as Ons Jabeur (who subsequently announced her pregnancy), Daria Kasatkina and Svitolina, felt they had no choice but to leave due to mental problems. Being a great tennis player comes with significant privilege and wealth, but the challenges are undeniable.
Injuries are part of elite sport, with athletes constantly pushing their limits in pursuit of success, but many feel tennis has not done enough to protect its athletes. In recent months, the growing list of tour absentees has revived debate around an old topic: the sport's long and grueling calendar.
This year's offseason, which began on Monday, will officially last just five weeks and four days, from November 24 to January 1. Not all the male players competed in the Davis Cup, the final competition of the season, but even the grueling 10-and-a-half-month season is longer than most other sports' campaigns.
Complaints about the schedule have been around for decades, and attempts have been made over the years to solve the problem. However, fresh ideas tend not to last long in a fragmented sport that has seven official organizations – the Men's Association Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women's Tennis Association (WTA), International Tennis Federation (ITF), Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. Each organization fiercely protects its own interests, which do not necessarily coincide with the interests of the players or each other.
Meanwhile, the schedule has actually become even stricter in many ways. Many top players say the extended 12-day ATP and WTA 1000 tournaments are further draining them. Attempts to encourage more frequent competition through financial and ranking point penalties are also troubling.
The lucrative 10th ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Saudi Arabia will be added to the calendar as early as 2028. The season is not only long, but also incredibly congested. Complicating the picture is how different the interests of players are: lower-ranked opponents who lose early, play fewer matches each week and earn less money often demand more gaming opportunities.
This is a difficult period in sports. The Professional Tennis Players' Association, co-founded by Novak Djokovic, continues to fight a class action lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam tournaments, accusing them of operating as a “cartel” by maintaining an unfair monopoly on the elite game.
At the same time, most of the top 10 players in the world signed letters and held meetings with representatives of Grand Slam tournaments, which are so powerful that they operate according to their own rules and often without the participation of the players. They implored the Grand Slam tournaments to share more of their income through prize money and actually make contributions to the players. Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Draper publicly expressed their displeasure.
During the ATP Finals just over a week ago, ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi held an insightful press conference addressing many of these issues. A former player himself, Gaudenzi expressed sympathy for the players' complaints but insisted the solution was for them to set more reasonable schedules. That is, focus on the most significant tournaments and ignore the temptation to chase participation in smaller events or exhibitions.
Those who complain about grinding during weekend exhibition games are especially vulnerable to criticism. Carlos Alcaraz was forced withdraw from the Davis Cup due to a hamstring injury sustained during the ATP Finals after competing in 81 official matches this year.
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In addition to his regular schedule, the Spaniard competed in the Laver Cup, the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia and exhibitions in Puerto Rico. The world number one will play at least three lucrative tournaments in the US and South Korea before the Australian Open in January.
Alcaraz is among a number of players who say trade shows require minimal effort and bring in far more money than most conventional touring events, so it makes sense for them to participate.
Gaudenzi, whose ATP OneVision plan is at the heart of the expansion of the ATP and WTA 1000 tournaments, also made it clear that he is not interested in reducing the length of those competitions. He believes the revenue from the expanded Masters 1000 tournaments, especially from the much larger number of tickets sold, clearly justifies the increase. Of course, it's hypocritical to patronize players for making financially motivated scheduling decisions while maintaining an unpopular tournament format for the same reason.
The cluttered, inefficient and broken sports calendar simply hasn't changed enough over the last three decades. Ideally, the various governing bodies would come together to tear it down and start over, making player health a priority with more logical planning and timing of events around the world.
Other issues that need to be addressed include ensuring that players are as protected as possible from extreme weather conditions and tighter controls over game speed, balls and playing conditions.
These decisions must be made with greater input from players, eliminating legitimate concerns about their workload while still ensuring sufficient earning opportunities for the rank-and-file professionals. However, as long as the governance of the sport remains so fragmented, nothing will change.
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