Organisers of the Paris Masters have taken action to avoid more backlash over the schedule.
Last year, Jannik Sinner was forced to pull out of the tournament after winning his first match shortly before 3am.
It sparked controversy, with top players and coaches piling on about the “crazy” finish time.
There were countless late finishes at the 2023 Paris Masters. Play on day one ended at 2.22am while Andrey Rublev completed his quarter-final match at 12.59am. But Sinner was subject to the latest finish when he beat Mackenzie McDonald at 2.37am.
He was due to return to the court around 13 hours later in the last match of the day session but withdrew citing “fatigue”. It sparked backlash, with Stan Wawrinka and Casper Ruud among those slating organisers over the schedule.
Paris Masters bosses are now keen to avoid a repeat of the early-hour conclusions and have tweaked the schedule for 2024. The order of play on the main court was noticeably different when it came out ahead of the first day of action.
There are now just three matches in the day session on Court Central. The evening session still has two matches but starts half an hour earlier.
Commentator Colin Fleming noted the adjustment while calling Ugo Humbert’s match against Brandon Nakashima. “Slightly revised Court Central schedule this year,” he said.
“Five matches instead of six. Three in the day session and then an evening session that starts at 7pm local time rather than 7.30.”
Sinner will likely welcome the news after his experience 12 months ago. The Italian’s unfortunate schedule was a knock-on effect of the day session running long and finishing at 9.56pm.
The night session didn’t get underway for another half hour, starting around three hours later than it was meant to. By the time the first match was done, Sinner and McDonald stepped on the court after midnight.
Announcing his withdrawal hours later, Sinner said: “I had less than 12 hours to rest and prepare for the next game. I have to make the right decision for my health and my body.”
His coach, Darren Cahill, took to social media and wrote: “2:45am. Happy for the @janniksin win but zero care for the players welfare with the Paris schedule.”
Casper Ruud chimed in, tweeting: “Bravo @atptour. Way to help one of the best players in the world recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37 am this morning. 14,5 hours to recover.. what a joke.”
And Stan Wawrinka said: “It’s crazy. Tournament doesn’t care and ATP just follow what the tournament will want! Always the same story …”
