Former world number one
Andy Roddick and renowned sports surgeon Joshua S. Dines took a dig at the tiring tennis schedule. Recently, many top men’s players have suffered injuries during the
Madrid Open. The list featured the likes of world number two
Jannik Sinner of Italy, Spain’s
Carlos Alcaraz, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, and Jiri Lehecka.
Talking about it, former world number one Roddick and Dines criticised the schedule, which, according to him, is ‘psychotic’. “Sinner was
training in the gym in Madrid, lifting because he had to do his lifting cycles
during these events because there's no off time,” said Roddick.
“Am I an idiot
for thinking that these weeks would be better spent intentionally being
somewhere where you're not switching time zones, surfaces, et cetera? NFL
[players get] seven to eight months off; NBA, four months off; Euro soccer,
three to four months off; baseball, three to four months off. How psychotic are
we in tennis that we play 11, 11-and-a-half months a year?”
“Resting at a hotel, even if it’s a Four Seasons, knowing
you’re going to play the next day, is completely different than being somewhere
else that’s really your home, your own bed, your own routine, [to] really
rest,” said Dines. “As a fan, I love to watch those tournaments. From a
player’s perspective, I’d rather get the work done then recover.”