Was last week a positive one for pro tennis? Oh, sure, props to the winners, Gael Monfils, Kyle Edmund, Casper Ruud, Kiki Bertens and Magda Linette. They all had terrific tournaments, because they won. And I am sure that they are extremely happy.
However, the vast top competitors did not play last week. None of those five winners have won a Grand Slam. They may never do that.
It is very rare that the best players — the Slam winners —play the ATP 250s or the WTA Internationals. It is super rare, especially for the men. More of the top women play the Internationals because the WTA doesn’t have as many tournaments as the ATP.
With the guys, they are supposed to play all the four Grand Slams, and the ATP Masters 1000s— let alone the ATP Finals. That means they have to play at least nine ATP events, in total, so you have to compete 13 tournaments combined.
The fantastic players, such as Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, can skip the 1000s, because they have gone very deep everywhere on hardcourts, clay and grass. Their number of points are huge, which is why that Djokovic, Nadal and Federer are No.1, No. 2 and No. 3. They rarely play the 250s. At the 500s, they will play a little bit, during the year, such as Acapulco, or Barcelona and Switzerland. But after that, exactly when and why? Also, with the women, Serena Williams loves playing the Slams, which is why she has won 23 majors. But, playing other events, there were years when she would pull out, because she didn’t want to go. The big players just want to stay home.
In 2019, Djokovic only played one 500, in Tokyo, not three. So, two of them provided no points. But he is No. 1, so it really doesn’t matter. The same thing went with Nadal, who got hurt in 2019, and he couldn’t play three times at the 1000s, but he wanted to regain No. 1. He did in the fall after he won Canada and the U.S. Open.
Federer is 38 years old, and he is always thinking how to handle his schedule. In 2019, he decided that he wouldn’t play at two 1000s: Canada and Paris. In the ATP Tour 500s, he did play Dubai, Halle and Basel, winning all of them. That is all good, but Federer had three zeros, and because of that, a lot of people won’t bother attending the 250s. Why? When he isn’t there, the fans are disappointed so they won’t go.
If you are an owner of those tournaments, how will you bring in the fans when you aren’t sure who is playing? There are thousands of people who love tennis, and they will go to the events just to watch them. But, those people – the diehard fans – truly understand what tennis is, with the rallies, the strokes, and how fast they are running. It is amazing. Truly.
This is reality; at the 250s [the men], and the Internationals [the women], that I have seen, over the past 27 years, there weren’t many fans at the events, especially early during the day. I mean, not much.
During the spring, on Monday through Thursday in the afternoon, there are very few people at the events. At night, it is a little better, but not much. It is not only that certain people are working and cannot go, but also because in order to take a day off, they have to know who is playing and is it worth it? A few, or some, will do it, but it is pretty rare.
That has happened when I started writing tennis, and doing radio, and still goes on today. You can’t pretend. But, it was packed during the weekend, here and there. There were more people to watch the semis and the finals, especially in California, where I live. But before that…ugh.
At the ATP Tour 250s and the WTA Internationals, it hasn’t changed at all. The owners have tried, for sure, but it is extremely difficult to get attendance to watch the “unknown” players. Without sponsorship and TV income, these smaller tournament would rarely survive.
So once again, props to Monfils, Edmund, Ruud, Bertens and Linette, for winning the event, but none of them have reached the Slam finals yet and maybe they never will. Or maybe they will play fantastic for seven matches and shock the world. That would be very surprising, but I cannot see it.