"It's a little weird": Andy Roddick questions length of Shanghai Masters in hot, humid conditions

Former world number one Andy Roddick has questioned the decision behind having a 12-day ATP 1000 event in Shanghai towards the end of the season. The Shanghai Masters is entering its business end, where the remaining players are giving their all to secure the ultimate prize.

Extremely challenging conditions have marred this year’s Shanghai Masters. Those testing conditions played their part in some of the most notable players' decisions to retire mid-match. On the third day of the competition, Norway’s Casper Ruud struggled with fitness problems and was forced to retire in the third set of the round of 64 clash against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs.

In the round of 32, top-seed and world number two Jannik Sinner was forced to retire after having so many cramps that he could hardly walk. Before that, the legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic had also been seen vomiting.

Former world number one Roddick, in a recent episode of his podcast ‘Served with Andy Roddick’, discussed in detail the challenging conditions in Shanghai. Roddick explained his own experience of playing in Shanghai and highlighted that it was not only the humidity and hot weather which played their part when he was active on the court. Roddick also questioned the reason behind having a 12-day ATP 1000 event towards the end of the season.

“It's a little weird when ... Here we are again in a 12-day Masters 1000 for the men,” said Roddick. “So we don't really have much to tell you, right? Lerner Tien's playing well. Alcaraz is not playing. Sinner had to retire because it's super hot and sweaty over there. Well, I'm actually curious about the humidity in Shanghai. What is it like playing humidity? Do players enjoy it? Do they hate it? Some, it comes and goes. I liked it because I was trained in Florida. So I was used to it, right? So it wasn't really shocking to me. I'll tell you something about Shanghai and Beijing specifically. And listen, no one's immune. LA has it, right?”

He continued by saying: “But the worst smog that I've ever played in was in Shanghai and Beijing. Shanghai, I don't know if it was just time of year and it was Masters Cup or whatever it was. But I mean, it looked like it was foggy all the time. And I had a hard time breathing. I had a harder time breathing there than in extreme conditions. You know, the hottest place is like middle of summer DC to me. Like it's just smoking hot. Shanghai affected me differently. Like you're breathing in air that's heavy. And if it's humid, it gets sticky. You can't really see off into the distance sometimes if it gets really bad. So there's like an added layer. Yes, the humidity sucks. And, you know, the air kind of sucks at some sometimes some ways. You know, it's certainly not the only place on earth that's like that. It's just the one that I remember being the toughest to play in that in Beijing. But I remember Shanghai being worse. And I'm sure there's smarter reasons for that than I can share with you.”

Roddick then went on to highlight the need for reducing the amount of tennis that has been played recently. Roddick stated that so much tennis is becoming counterproductive, with big-name players, such as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner, not playing in some of them.

“The men are playing a 12 day Masters 1000You know what I'd rather do in two weeks? If I had to spend it at a place anyways, get credit for two, get ranking points for two. Trim a week off of the end of the year,” said Roddick. “Sinner, obviously paying the bill, Alcaraz paying the bill for the scheduling. And you know, it's impossible to be physically and mentally perfect week in and week out. Those guys can generally win when they're not. Something's got to give this schedule continues to suck. It has sucked. It's only getting worse. And who pays the bill? The fans, a lot of the times, like the players do for sure, for sure. But it's, you have to have a trade off. Some people are mad that, you know, Alcaraz isn't playing, Sinner withdrew. It's not, it's not on them. Like you can't do it all the time. January 1st through the end of November for years in a row. You just can't do it. It's too much of an ask. Something's got to give it's given this week in Shanghai, no Alcaraz, no Sinner opportunity knocking on the other side of the break.”