The tennis calendar: The less, the better?

The tennis calendar begins in late December right after Christmas and goes on till November where the season finale takes place in the form of the World Tour Finals (for men) and the WTA Tour Championships (for women). Between these months lie a plethora of tournaments, including the four Grand Slams, in what constitutes a packed and congested schedule devised by the ATP.

The second Grand Slam of the year takes place on the clay courts of Roland Garros

The tennis schedule can be gruelling even for the fittest player on the tour, as the ATP rankings are designed in such a manner that they consider the points accumulated in 19 tournaments that a player participated in, throughout the season. Thus players are tempted to take part in as many tourneys as possible due to which they become worn out easily; the consequence is them not being able to remain at the top of their game for a considerable span of time.

The tennis calendar is dotted with many tournaments but the ones that really catch the eye are the four Grand Slams – the Australian Open, the French Open, the All England Lawn Tennis Championships (Wimbledon) and the US Open. These 4 tournaments attract more players, garner greater public attention, and most important of all, offer the maximum remuneration and points for the winner.

The Grand Slams hence form an important, if not the most important yardstick in the debate to determine who the greatest player in the world is.

Therefore, in order to make tennis a more popular sport, the prospect of adding a fifth Grand Slam seems an inviting idea, for it can be beneficial in several ways.

Firstly, the sport could see an upsurge in its popularity in countries where it is lesser known. For example, let us imagine a scenario where a fifth Grand Slam is added in China. The ideal time in the calendar would be after the US Open and before the Finals are due in November. Scheduling such a tournament would increase the popularity of tennis not only in China, but in surrounding nations such as Taipei and Hong Kong and the rest of Asia, thus leading to more revenues in terms of advertisement and would ensure that tennis has a global reach. When television revenues are also factored in, the idea appears even more lucrative.

Could the blue clay resurface in tennis?

Secondly, if the fifth Slam were to be played on a different surface such as indoor carpet or blue clay (Rafa Nadal would certainly object to this!), it would add a whole new dimension to the sport of tennis and television ratings would be sure to soar, as the tennis fraternity would be eager to follow the proceedings of a new, but highly competitive tournament.

But on the other hand, adding a fifth Grand Slam may not bode well for the sport of tennis.

With many ATP players already lamenting about the nature of the cramped calendar, adding another tournament to the itinerary would only worsen their problems. When broached about the nature of the ATP calendar, Rafael Nadal lambasted the ATP for the structure of the tour, claiming that the extensive nature of the calendar was taking its toll on the players. Many former tennis players also voiced their concern over the fact that such a tight schedule would lead to players becoming frequently sidelined by injuries.

Rafa Nadal – had some strong words about the ATP calendar

The Grand Slams are the most fiercely fought tournaments in the calendar, where 128 players sweat it out for two weeks at the end of which one is crowned champion. For men, the Grand Slam matches are best-of-five, meaning that a match can have a winner only when one player wins three sets, as opposed to other tournaments in which capturing two seats would secure victory.

Since the Grand Slams are the most prestigious tournaments, players take it upon themselves to prepare extremely hard for these events. Their preparation involves a lot of meticulous work such as watching a lot of tape, adjusting and fine-tuning their technique and footwork to suit the surface of the forthcoming slam. In the lead up to the Slam, players take part in many events on similar surfaces as that of the Slam, so as to get acclimatized to the playing surface. Inclusion of a fifth Slam would mean that the players would have to reprise the same hard work for a fifth time in the year, thus leading to players becoming more fatigued, both mentally and physically.

The arrangement of the Grand Slams appears well-balanced in terms of both schedule and surface. As the players work their way into shape after an offseason, they face their first Slam of the year in the form of the Australian Open in January which is played on hard courts. Then comes the French Open, played on the clay courts of Roland Garros in May. Up next is Wimbledon, which begins in the last week of June and runs into the first week of July. The last of the Slams is the US Open which takes place on the hard courts of the Flushing Meadows during August-September of every year. If a fifth Slam were to be added, then at which juncture would it be accommodated? This might put the whole schedule of the ATP in jeopardy, for the presence of a Grand Slam would imply the inclusion of several preparatory tournaments before the Slam.

If the ideas of a fifth Slam were to bear fruition, the prospect of the fifth Slam not being as popular as the other four might also seem a looming possibility. To combat this, the organizers of that Slam would try to entice players by offering more prize money and better facilities, resulting in other Slams losing their sheen. This would not augur well for the sport of tennis as fighting between Grand Slams would be the last thing that the ATP and the WTA would want.

From the players’ point of view, a fifth Slam would amount to greater pressure because they would have to play another tournament where the winner would have to win seven times to capture the title, with the possibility of having to play five-setters in all seven matches. Players would have to keep changing their styles in order to suit the surface and this would affect their technique and playing style over the course of the career.

Rod Laver – has captured both the Career Grand Slam and the Calendar Grand Slam

The first name that comes to mind when we think of the phrase “Career Grand Slam” or “Calendar Grand Slam” is Rod Laver. Adding a fifth Slam to the sport, 108 years after the last Grand Slam was added, would take the sheen off the records of the past legends because effectively they would have won only 4 out of the existing 5 slams. This would be harsh injustice towards the legends, whose contribution has resulted in tennis being what it is today.

In the long run, it would suit the best interests of the game if the number of Grand Slams remains at four.