Bloated Masters events, crazy calendar perplexes Sinner

Jannik Sinner admitted he has to think twice to remember the oddball Monday finals date of the Cincinnati Masters, where he reached the final 7-6 (4), 6-2 over Frenchman Terence Atmane on Saturday.

The world No. 1 does not hide his growing displeasure at a new ATP calendar on steroids, with Masters events bumping up against each other due to expanded formats which blew up from the classic seven days to become marathons of 12-plus.

Sinner is currently set to play the final in Cincinnati, an event which was already in motion when the previous event in Toronto staged its final on an unheard-of Thursday.

With money the obvious driving factor for organisers, the upside down world is drawing poor reviews from spectators, players and media. 

“I love the one week events, I love when you see the tournament in Monaco, you have this one-week event, and you have the first round matches, what are incredibly good.

“If one seeded player loses the next match, it’s an incredible match, still. You know exactly when you buy the tickets, you have the quarter-finals (a Friday), and then you have the sem-final, which is Saturday, and then you have a final Sunday.”

But the chaos of the current scheduling has the 24-year-old somewhat baffled,  

“I’ve lost a little bit the view of when the actual final is: it used to be always Sunday. Now here it’s Monday, in Toronto, it’s Wednesday or Thursday.

“It’s difficult, even for players, we lose a little bit the days of the week.”

While appreciating the days off between matches which comes with doubling the actual playing days, Sinner still has plenty of doubts.

“I would love to play (the final) tomorrow, yes. But if I would have an incredibly long, a long match today, I would love to play Monday.”