"Impressive how awful tennis scheduling continues to be" "Horrendous, all R16 matches in the same day" - Fans appalled at Italian Open 2024 scheduling

The Italian Open schedule on Monday, May 13, was a jam-packed affair, with multiple matches featuring high-profile names across both men's and women's tennis competing at the same time. This led to the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournament coming under criticism from tennis fans.

On the day, there were three separate time slots where matches took place simultaneously. In one slot, Iga Swiatek faced Angelique Kerber, Coco Gauff clashed with Paula Badosa, and Jelena Ostapenko locked horns with Rebecca Sramkova.

Another slot saw Daniil Medvedev go up against Hamad Medjedovic, Holger Rune play Sebastian Baez, and Hubert Hurkacz meet Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

In yet another slot, Aryna Sabalenka squared off against Elina Svitolina and Maria Sakkari faced Victoria Azarenka. Also, the match between Sabalenka and Svitolina finished well beyond midnight.

Tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) were mostly critical of the scheduling of matches. One set of fans voiced its frustrations by indicating that despite the transition to two-week ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 events, tennis scheduling remains messy.

"Days like today just proved that the matches are NOT more spread out. Horrendous scheduling having all R16 matches in the same day in a 12-day event," wrote a prominent tennis journalist.

"It really is impressive how awful tennis scheduling continues to be, even with the move to 2-week 1,000-point tournaments. There's nothing** tennis can't do!** = nothing horrible," another fan commented.

"What in the scheduling is this?" asked another fan.

Another set of fans included those who had ideas about how to improve on the flaws of the current scheduling system at prestigious tournaments. It also featured some who lamented the same pattern repeating from one tournament to the next.

"There's an easy fix, Ditch the ATP/WTA combined events, Why should the ATP suffer to give the WTA more exposure? Seperate the slams as well," one fan wrote.

"It's ridiculous. The same happened in Madrid and nobody tried to prevent it from happening again," commented another fan.

"I don’t even think money wins here either," another fan chimed in.

"The schedule has a big toll on our bodies" - Stefanos Tsitsipas after beating Cameron Norrie at the Italian Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas in action against Cameron Norrie at the 2024 Italian Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas powered his way into the fourth round of the Italian Open after a resounding victory against Cameron Norrie. Later, at a press conference, the Greek was asked about the injuries sustained by rivals Carlos Alcaraz (right arm injury) and Jannik Sinner (hip injury), which saw them both withdraw from the event in the days leading up to it.

In his response, Tsitsipas pointed to the hectic scheduling, particularly across ATP Masters 1000 events. According to the Greek, the scheduling takes its toll on players' minds and bodies, drastically increasing injury risks.

"I've spoken about the fact that the schedule has a big toll on our bodies. It starts from the mental side, and it follows to the physical side. The extension of the days in the Masters 1000s I think plays a massive role and contributes a lot to the fact that these players are getting injured," Tsitsipas said.