Carlos Alcaraz, still sidelined by injury, was expected not to play the Canadian Open. However, when Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic withdrew from the tournament despite their SW19 campaign ending weeks earlier, it pointed to an issue that goes beyond the event. As the event kicks off on August 2, Taylor Fritz has once again raised a question about the demanding tennis calendar amid the withdrawals.

“I don’t know if I think this because I kind of — my ranking kind of got higher, I started going deeper in tournaments a bit more often right around the time we changed the Masters schedule,” Taylor Fritz said in his pre-tournament press conference at the DC Citi Open. “I don’t know if it’s because of that, but it feels like I’m playing more matches. It feels like the season got longer to me. It just feels like you’re at these tournaments for so long.” 

The former world No. 4 spoke about the physical and mental demands players face and highlighted how the main reason behind that is the commodification of the sport. “At the end of the day, it is a business. So if they’re making more money doing it, then it makes sense. But I think we need to also accommodate the players,” the 28-year-old said.

Hence, he argues that a major reason why players withdraw is not that those events lose importance, but because they have to prioritise and give utmost importance to their bodies. And Fritz’s comments come when concerns over the ATP calendar continue to grow among the players. 

Seven of the nine existing Masters 1000 events are now played for over 12 days. That change has stretched an already packed ATP Tour schedule even further. Both the WTA and ATP tennis seasons also run across 11 months for many of the sport’s biggest names. As a result, players in both divisions often have very little time to recover between major tournaments.

This has even led to an increased number of injuries among players. Emma Raducanu, who is currently ruled out due to a stress fracture, and Jack Draper, who just made a return at the Citi Open after a prolonged period of recovery, are some of the examples of how the players have been suffering due to the demanding schedule.

Now, while the withdrawals of Sinner and Djokovic added more attention to the issue, even tournament organisers have now shared their own thoughts on the demanding tennis schedule.

Valerie Tetreault shares her thoughts on tennis’s tight schedule after top players withdraw

The withdrawals of the Italian and the Serbian once again put the tennis schedule under the spotlight. Their decisions also prompted a firm response from the Canadian Open’s tournament director, Valerie Tetreault.

“We are obviously very disappointed that Jannik and Novak won’t be joining us in Montreal this year, especially after they also withdrew from last year’s tournament in Toronto,” the 38-year-old added.

“We respect their decisions and understand that, with such a demanding schedule, players’ health must remain the priority. That said, we believe the frequency of these last-minute withdrawals in the last few years raises a broader issue for our sport,” she later explained.

And this scheduling controversy is nothing new on the tennis tour. Several top players, including WTA and ATP stars, have raised similar concerns in the past.

Two years ago in September, Carlos Alcaraz openly criticized the demanding calendar. “They are going to kill us in some way,” he added.

Even in 2026, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek also withdrew from the Dubai Masters event, just 2 days before the tournament began, which only added more fuel to the ongoing discussion.

Now that the scheduling row has once again made headlines in tennis, attention turns to the sport’s governing bodies.