Once again, tennis scheduling is front and centre. 

The debate has been brought up at the Cincinnati Open twice by Iga Swiatek, and fuel has been chucked on the flames thanks to a rather bizarre response from Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

However, this is not the first time that scheduling concerns have been discussed this year – or even this century.

We look at six past and present former pros who have had their say.

What did Swiatek and Kafelnikov say?

Swiatek made comments before the Cincinnati Open about the tough scheduling players faced – and doubled down on them after her quarter-final win versus Mirra Andreeva.

“What can I say? I’ve been kind of an advocate in saying that we shouldn’t, I don’t know… be pushing and pushing for us to play more,” commented the world No 1 to Sky Sports.

“Obviously it is not our decision, but for sure I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It’s not going to end well.”

Her comments sparked a strong response from Kafelnikov, a former world No 1 and two-time major winner.

On Twitter/X he wrote: “Is someone pushing you to play??? All you fricking do is complain!!

“I’ll tell you what you deserve! You deserve to get paid a lot less than you do now!! How about that??”

Chris Evert

Former world No 1 and 18-time major singles champion Evert has backed Swiatek,

Writing on Twitter/X, she said: “I certainly can understand @iga_swiatek concern about playing too many tournaments, especially when you go deep in tournaments every week.

“Adding in the @Olympics and much more depth in the game, it’s an important topic….”

Responding to further criticism of Swiatek’s comments, Evert added: “What people don’t understand is there is SO much more depth than the 80’s! I played then!!

“The players now have to bring their “A” game in the first round; we didn’t!”

Novak Djokovic

World No 2 and 24-time Slam winner Djokovic now plays a tailored schedule, allowing him time to spend with his family – and prioritise the biggest events.

After skipping the two-week Madrid Open this spring, Djokovic played at the Italian Open – but was critical of both tours for increasing the length of Masters and WTA 1000 events.

He said: “I’m personally overall not a fan of that because I feel like we already have four Grand Slams a year that take two, plus one week eventually if you go all the way with training.

“You spend 10 to 12 weeks only in Grand Slams. Now we’re going to have eight out of nine 1000 events be the same for next year: pretty much a two-week event.”

Iga Swiatek News

Iga Swiatek brutally criticised and told she deserves ‘to get paid a lot less’ in rant by former world No 1

Iga Swiatek fears ‘people are going to hate me’ as she makes passionate plea to tennis chiefs

Elena Rybakina

Speaking at a similar time to Djokovic, world No 4 and former Wimbledon champion Rybakina echoed similar sentiments.

“It may make sense for Indian Wells and Miami to have that duration, but to do it in these two events, shortly before Roland Garros… with the new rules there is no room to choose, we are forced to compete in too many tournaments,” she commented.

“We are going in wrong direction, there is a lot to improve on the circuit and last year I wasted a lot of energy trying to change things.

“I realised that it is very difficult to do so, so I will just assume the rules and do the best I can.”

Rafael Nadal

A big controversy this year was scheduling the Olympics during a busy part of the season – something that Rafael Nadal also flagged way back in 2008, when the Games took place in Beijing.

The compacted schedule saw four big clay events – Monte Carlo, Rome, Barcelona, and Hamburg – held in back-to-back weeks, something he was not pleased with.

“These people are destroying Europe and Europe used to be the foundation of the tour,” Nadal said at the time.

“I think that when a player loses in the first round or pulls out – and they get criticized – the tournament should ring these people (the ATP) and tell them that it is their fault.

“I have some email conversations with these people but it is true that they end up doing what they like and I am getting tired of it all.”

John McEnroe and Mary Carillo

Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion McEnroe and former pro Carillo, now a leading commentator, clashed over the scheduling of the WTA Tour way back in 2010 – showing this is not a brand-new debate.

Speaking ahead of the US Open that year, McEnroe said: “I think that it’s asking too much of the women. They shouldn’t be playing as many events as the men.

“The women have it better in tennis than in any other sport, thanks to Billie Jean King. But you shouldn’t push them to play more than they’re capable of.

“They should be required to be in less events; there should be less events for the women.

“It seems it takes an actual meltdown on the court or women quitting the game altogether before they realize there’s a need to change the schedule.”

In response to McEnroe’s rather frank remarks, Carillo said that the game was not “asking” too much.
“Monica Seles was as mentally tough as anyone I’ve ever seen — man or woman,” Carillo said.

“Steffi Graf. Chrissy and Martina…they stayed so fit mentally and physically for so long because they wanted it for so long.

“To say we’re asking too much of women, I don’t see it.”

Read Next: 2024 US Open – When is the draw, will Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Emma Raducanu play? Dates, top seeds, prize money