ATP mulling adding grass court Masters 1000 tournament

• Holding an ATP Masters 1000 tournament on grass before Wimbledon makes more sense
• There have been proposals in the past for a grass-court Masters competition
• ATP Masters 1000 tournaments are a series of nine tennis competitions held annually

Andrea Gaudenzi, president of the Association of Tennis Professionals, is mulling the introduction of ATP Masters 1000 tournament on grass in Germany and the UK.

He says that holding an ATP Masters 1000 tournament on grass before Wimbledon makes more sense.

There have been proposals in the past for a grass-court Masters competition, and Gaudenzi agrees that adding a tenth tournament makes sense. He suggests promoting the Halle Open in Germany or the Queen’s Club Championships in London from the ATP 500 to the ATP 1000.

WHAT IS A 1000 EVENT IN TENNIS?

ATP Masters 1000. Photo/Tennis Head

The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments are a series of nine tennis competitions that take place annually. These competitions include the highest-ranked players on the ATP Tour.

Since the beginning of the ATP Tour in 1990, the tournaments have been played in both Europe and North America. Beginning in 2009, they have also been played in Asia.

There are nine ATP Masters tournaments held each year. Six are on hard courts and three on clay. However, for the previous three years, only eight took place after Shanghai Masters was postponed due to the global spread of the coronavirus.

WHAT IS ANDREA GAUDENZI PROPOSAL?

Gaudenzi told Germany’s Tennis Magazine that after the French Open, there should be a ATP Masters 10000 tournament three weeks before Wimbledon. He cites that grass is the only surface not used for a Masters 1000 competition.

Since the Canada Masters is held in the summer, the ATP will be without any premium programming for the fans for two months, between Rome and the summer tournament in Canada.

Since most players begin their grass-court seasons in the middle of the three grass-court weeks preceding Wimbledon, it makes sense to hold a grass Masters Tournament in Germany or UK.

These two countries remain the largest and most important tennis markets since the 90s. Tennis and its rich history are popular in Germany. In the same way, the market in the UK is similar. The probability of winning the grass masters is on par with Germany.

Andrea Gaudenzi. Photo/TennisMajor

The players can take benefit of being in London before Wimbledon. In addition, Gaudenzi revealed that the ATP Masters events would undergo significant changes in the near future. Player participation will take center stage as a result of a new 50/50 collaboration between tournaments and players.

According to Gaudenzi, the essence of the shift is the alignment of interests between players and tournaments.  Besides, a new prize money formula is in place to give participants a stake in the financial success.

In the ATP, both players and tournaments will contribute equally. This comes from the realization that athletes were excluded from the event organization process for over three decades.

This resulted in criticism and a breakdown of confidence yet players are an integral component of the ATP.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ATP MASTERS 1000 AND 500?

The champion of a major ATP Masters 1000 event gets a total of 1000 points for their achievement. The champions of ATP 500-level tournaments receive 500 points, whereas the champions of ATP 250-level tournaments receive 250 points.

Players who do not end up taking home the championship can still accumulate points based on how far they make it through the draw. The point awarding system makes all the difference in ATP Masters and 500 events.

ARE MASTERS 1000 EVENTS MANDATORY?

ATP Masters 1000. Photo/Tennishead

A player is regarded as a Commitment Player for the upcoming season if they finished in the top 30 of the ATP Rankings in the season before to the current one.

If you want to compete in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, you need to have participated in 8 of the 9 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. But, except for Monte Carlo, you need to have competed in 4 of the ATP World Tour 500 tournaments.

When a player reaches certain milestones depending on their length of service in the league, they are eligible to have the number of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 commitment tournaments lowered.

HOW MANY ROUNDS IS 1000 MASTERS TENNIS?

There are only 56 players in the ATP Masters 10000. That’s because the top eight seeds get a bye in the first round of competition for the majority of the tournaments, which have a 64-man format.

However, beginning on Wednesday and continuing through the final Sunday, which is five rounds, there is competition every day for everyone.