Murray not a fan of extending ATP 1000 tournaments: "Time to switch off, it just reduces that"

Andy Murray crashed out of the Madrid Open pretty early on in round one and he spoke about the event following his loss noting that he's not a fan of the changes.

The Madrid Open similarly to the Rome Masters will both last more than a week now following changes last week. It's part of the effort of the ATP to extend these events to two weeks with the first few days being reserved for qualifications. Murray is open to change but he noted after his match in Madrid that he's not necessarily a fan of this extended format:

“I’m not a massive fan of it but I’m also open to change and trying new things and seeing how it works out for the ATP and for the players. If I think back to before when I did really well in these tournaments, for the top players you’d be arriving on like the Thursday, Friday before the event, and it was two-and-a-half weeks from when you might arrive here (in Madrid) till the final in Rome. Now that is four weeks. Quite a long and big change for players. In terms of like time to switch off and everything, I think it just reduces that a little bit.”

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He expanded:

“We’ll see whether it’s a beneficial thing for the tour in years to come. I have heard (from) a lot of players just over the years about the tennis season being very long and everything. I don’t think that this necessarily shortens it for the players. It’s just a little bit more time at tournaments, a little bit more time on the road. I’m not sure about it.”

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