"It's bulls*it" - Andy Roddick lashes out at ATP for compromising players' health by alleged Saudi Arabia Swing addition

Andy Roddick minced no words as he tore into the ATP after a prominent tennis insider claimed that a new Masters 1000 event in Saudi Arabia is set to be announced soon. Roddick suggested that it would only worsen the scheduling situation further. Several high-profile ATP stars, such as Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev have previously criticized the scheduling over its negative effects on players, such as burnout.

On a recently-released episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast, tennis insider and journalist Jon Wertheim stated that there are concrete plans in place to launch a maiden ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Saudi Arabia, aided by the country's growing investments and subsequent influence in tennis. However, Wertheim shared his concerns about it as well.

According to the insider, ATP wants the tournament to be played in February, which is already a jam-packed month for men's tennis at various levels. The Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, both ATP 500-level events, take place in February. Several tournaments spanning Central and South America are also played in the same month.

Here, Andy Roddick wondered if the ATP intends on discontinuing at least one tournament in the latter stages of the tennis season to make things a little less hectic for players.

"I'm sure, I'm positive, I can only be positive that if they're adding another whole swing and another whole Masters 1000, they're obviously taking something away from the back-end of the schedule, right?" Andy Roddick asked.

However, Wertheim couldn't answer in the affirmative, prompting the former No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion to slam the ATP.

"So basically the ATP, with adding this, and then just putting this.. I mean.. there are four days between sanctioned events this year and frankly, it's just bulls*it and I don't believe anything they say as far as wanting to fix the schedule," he added.

A few months ago, the ATP chief briefly touched on the estimated commencement year of the new Masters 1000 tournament in Saudi Arabia.

Months before Andy Roddick's chastising take on ATP scheduling, Andrea Gaudenzi talked about proposed Saudi Arabia Masters move

Andrea Gaudenzi at the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals (Source: Getty)

In November last year, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi told the media that even if Saudi Arabia gets its own Masters 1000 event, it won't be happening very soon because of the logistical efforts involved.

"If it happens, it won't be before 2028 because there are infrastructure works that need time. The other Masters 1000 tournaments are not at risk, as they have had category protection for 30 years," Gaudenzi said.

However, based on reports circulating in the Saudi Arabian media, the tennis powers in the country are doing their best to ensure that the Masters 1000 tournament's inaugural edition takes place in 2027.

The reports also claimed that the event will be given the name of Qiddiya Masters and that its timing in February will precede that of the prestigious Masters 1000s at Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open) and Miami (Miami Open) in the USA.