The ATP has come under criticism again due to the poor scheduling of the Paris Masters. Now, in an interesting turn of events, Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the tournament, creating great anger amongst the fans towards ATP. Sinner was supposed to play against Alex de Minaur in the third round at Paris, but his withdrawal means the Australian will move into the next round.
Jannik Sinner was involved in a late night match against Mackenzie McDonald in the second round. The Italian won the match in three sets, in a contest that ended at 2.37 in the morning. There has been criticism towards the ATP for scheduling late night matches and players like Novak Djokovic have already spoken against it.
The anger towards ATP went overboard when the schedule for the matches for the third round was released. According to the schedule, Sinner was supposed to play his match against de Minaur in the afternoon session. This game the world number 4 only 12 hours to recover for his match. Sinner went into the tournament as one of the favorites to win.
Players like Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka have always been vocal about mismanagement by the ATP while scheduling tournaments. Even Casper Ruud tweeted against ATP and in favor of Sinner before the Italians withdrawal. Ruud sarcastically praised ATP for their scheduling and admitted his shock to see Sinner get just 12 hours to recover. Wawrinka commented on his tweet saying the tournaments do not care about the players.
A withdrawal of a star player like Sinner will be seen as a statement of intent against the poor scheduling. The ATP will come under more pressure as fans and players alike are uniting against unfair scheduling.
Novak Djokovic favorite after the withdrawal of Jannik Sinner
Djokovic and Sinner were in the same side of the draw and the Italians withdrawal will make the tournament easier for Novak Djokovic. The Serbian was given the preference of the night match while Sinner had to play early in the afternoon. Due to Sinner’s withdrawal, Alex de Minaur has reached the next round of Paris Masters.
While the scheduling saga looks far from over, it will be interesting to see how Novak Djokovic and The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) will look at this situation. The PTPA, led by Movak Djokovic, has worked for the welfare of the players. Jannik Sinner’s strong statement against the ATP is set to get the organization into hot water.
