Schedules have yet again made the headlines in the tennis world. This time several fans have come out in numbers to showcase their astonishment regarding the scheduling at the 2024 China Open. They can’t believe how come the China Open still keeps on running day after day. Although the men’s singles and doubles event ended on Wednesday (October 2), the women’s event is still running, and guess what? Aryna Sabalenka is playing her QF match today! Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa will take each other in a blockbuster SF clash on Saturday (October 5). Fans are a bit “confused” with this. They feel this is nothing but an unnecessary “dragging“!
Recently, on the men’s side, we saw Carlos Alcaraz having no triumph to celebrate his victory over Jannik Sinner in the final of the 2024 China Open. He rushed from the stadium to the airport after playing a marathon three-setter against the world number one. “I just did everything in a rush… we arrived here in Shanghai super late so I couldn’t sleep as much as I wanted,” he later revealed to the journalists in Shanghai. So, considering their participation at the Shanghai Masters, we’ve seen this early wrap-up on the men’s side. It’s quite justified, until this!
However, if we take a closer look, the men’s qualifier matches started on September 24, while the women’s qualifiers started a day earlier, yet they’re the last ones to wrap up this tournament. Highlighting the whole scenario, a tennis media personnel, Myles David, tweeted, “The WTA1000 tournament in Beijing started main draw competition on Wednesday, September 25th. How are they still in the Quarterfinal stage of matches on Friday, October 4th?? It’s a 96 player draw, the top seeds all get 1st round byes AND there’s multiple match courts to play on.” This tournament finishes on October 6th and then the Wuhan Open kickstart from October 8. So there isn’t much time left in between these two tournaments.
Perhaps that’s why just like all the other fans even David looked a bit confused with the scheduling. Previously, we have seen players like Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and many others complain about schedules during the tournaments. Earlier, while relating to jam-packed scheduling, Switek said it makes “tennis less fun for us.” She added, “Most of the WTA players would tell you that, especially when you’re playing at a high level.” Now after seeing this bizarre dragging, what do the fans have to say to the tournament organizers at the China Open?
Tennis fans are confused to see Carlos Alcaraz run away with the title when Coco Gauff is still waiting to play her SF match at the China Open
Previously during the French Open, we saw Coco Gauff criticizing the tournament organizers for putting players’ health at risk with late-night finishes. She said, “I definitely think it’s not healthy. It may be not fair for those who have to play late because it does ruin your schedule.” Thankfully, for the players late-night finishes haven’t been an issue here in the Asian swing as of now. However, the scheduling of the Asian swing has indeed become a topic of debate among the fans. According to a fan, “The scheduling of the Asian swing tournaments is confusing as heck. For example, having finals in the middle of the week?! Why?“
Another fan took up the example of the Sunshine Doubles. This year’s men’s singles event at the Indian Wells Masters started on March 4 and ended on March 18. While the women’s tournament ran from March 3 to March 17. Shortly after the completion of this tournament, the Miami Open kickstarted with a women’s singles event running from March 17 to March 31. While the men’s singles event commenced on March 18 and continued till April 1. According to a fan, it’s quite acceptable to do this in a combined event, but in this case, the fan feels it’s very much extraordinary.
“I don’t mind this for Sunshine Double, the two clay Masters, or even the ones they’re expanding in the NA swing To do it when it’s not a combined event it absolutely WILD,” wrote the fan.
With the Olympics happening in the same season, we have already witnessed matches coming in quite thick and fast this year. Previously we saw the world number one, Iga Swiatek expressing her concern with having to play every day at the Olympics. Several other players have also spoken about this “overcrowded” schedule in the last few months. Is it one of the reasons behind frequent injuries and witnessing multiple withdrawals from the tournaments? We don’t know, but recently, Paula Badosa and Karolina’s withdrawal from the doubles match at the China Open raised a few question marks. Both these players are currently well alive at the China Open. Did fatigue and managing workload in the middle of an unusual extension of the tournament play a big factor behind their decision?
Well, that question still remains to be answered. However, despite Swiatek’s previous complaints about Olympic schedules a fan wrote, “The Olympic schedule of 9 days should be the template for extended tournaments. Anything beyond that is just draggy.“
Interestingly, when Carlos Alcaraz was facing Daniil Medvedev in the SF of the 2024 China Open (October 1), Coco Gauff was taking on Naomi Osaka in the blockbuster clash on the same day. Relating to this strange scheduling in Beijing, a fan said, “The men’s final was the same day as women’s round of 16 matches—nonsensical scheduling!!“
Interestingly, when Carlos Alcaraz was facing Daniil Medvedev in the SF of the 2024 China Open (October 1), Coco Gauff was taking on Naomi Osaka in the blockbuster clash on the same day. Relating to this strange scheduling in Beijing, a fan said, “The men’s final was the same day as women’s round of 16 matches—nonsensical scheduling!!“
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