ATP calendar: Kitzbühel, Hamburg 2023 still (almost) untouched
With the expansion of some Masters 1000 tournaments from one to almost two weeks, the ATP wants to generate more income. For you and the players. Some smaller tournaments will soon have to cope with new dates.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Jun 12, 2022, 10:57 am
"One Vision", if you can remember, was the name of a musical offer from Queen in the mid-1985s, which was not one of the really big hits of the legendary band from England. You could still listen to it with a simple dinner. The “OneVision” concept presented by ATP in the middle of the week, on the other hand, should hit like an all-time hit in the format of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The bottom line? The rich can get a little richer, the smaller tournaments will see where they are.
The facts first: From the coming season, the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai will be extended from eight to twelve days, with tableaus for 96 players each. That is at least 40 more jobs, which should also be better rewarded. In 2025, the Canadian Masters and the one in Cincinnati will also be played over almost two weeks, then it will be really tight in the summer.
Because the downside of the coin is the following: Of course, the ATP will still not cannibalize itself, if a 1000 Masters is running, all other events will have a break. With a view to a few German-speaking tournaments, this has different effects. The field work at the MTTC Iphitos in Munich, for example, will have to start a week earlier next year. April 17th as the starting date, that's sporty in relative proximity to the Alps. Alexander Zverev, a regular in Munich, recently said in Paris that he doesn't like playing at eight degrees and in drizzle. well In any case, Munich is competing with Barcelona and Belgrade for an attractive field of participants.
In the summer of 2024 there will be the Summer Olympics in Paris
As of now, nothing will change for the lawn tournaments in Stuttgart and HalleWestfalen. The three-week major break between the French Open and Wimbledon is set in stone, after all, even the tennis year only has a limited number of weeks.
In the next two years, Hamburg and the Generali Open in Kitzbühel will also be able to plan almost normally. Hamburg starts on July 24th, 2023 with the parallel events in Atlanta and Umag, in Kitzbühel on July 30th, at the same time as in Washington and Los Cabos. In 2024, however, the Summer Olympics will take place in Paris. And the following year, as mentioned, two twelve-day 1000m peaks are crammed into the summer.
The Erste Bank Open in the Wiener Stadthalle, on the other hand, do not have to worry too much, as the date of the event is in the last week of October, parallel to Basel. And that despite the fact that Shanghai will be expanding to twelve tournament days from the coming season. By the way: The event in Moscow, announced for mid-October, will be listed as "Suspended" in the 2023 ATP calendar. The ATP keeps all options open here.