Alexander Zverev has proposed that the ATP reverts its premier Masters 1000 events to their old, shorter format. Seven of the nine Masters tournaments – the tier below the Grand Slams – now last 12 days instead of one week, including the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, which are staged in the lead-up to the US Open.
The extended schedule has meant that many top players are no longer playing all of the top-tier events. Both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have skipped Canada and Cincinnati. Novak Djokovic also missed the Canadian Open, but will return in 'Cincy' this week.
Zverev's proposal
Zverev is one of a limited few top players who has entered all seven Masters 1000 events staged so far in 2026. But he still believes that the solution to the high-profile withdrawals is to return to the one-week format.
The world No. 3's proposal comes days after Djokovic shared his own radical suggestion to shorten play, by using fast-four scoring to ensure no match lasts longer than two hours. This sees matches played over best-of-five sets, with each set played to four games, with tiebreak at 3-3. It would also mean an end to Advantage scoring, with a deciding point played at deuce.
The 24-time Major winner's comments sparked some backlash, as Joao Fonseca joked that Djokovic only made the suggestion because he was getting "older". Julien Benneteau told L'Equipe that it made "no sense". But Ben Shelton said it would be "cool".
Reaction to absences
Zverev, however, has a more tame solution – to revert to one-week Masters 1000s. Addressing the absences of Sinner and Alcaraz in Cincinnati, he said: "I think that's what two-week events do, unfortunately, especially if there is a Slam coming after that.
"If you play everything and you're a top player, you spend seven weeks here in North America. That is quite a long time, and I think that's why a lot of top players, they choose not to play Canada for multiple years now. That's unfortunately the sad reality of it."
Asked how to fix things, he replied: "[Make it] how it always was. Quite simple. Make us be here for two weeks, not seven. For the Masters, it's two weeks for both of them, and I think that's an easy fix, regarding top players playing."
Zverev's form
With Sinner and Alcaraz out injured, Zverev is the top seed at the Cincinnati Open. The German was also the No. 1 seed in Montreal, where he suffered a shock opening-round defeat to Tallon Griekspoor.
Zverev finished runner-up at Wimbledon last month – the first time he's been beyond the fourth round. And he admitted it was difficult to adjust to the hard courts after spending so long on grass.
"It's also a difficult switch for me because the ball bounces a little higher and I've never played that long on grass, so I'd never got used to the surface, which I did this year. I played almost two weeks longer than I usually do," the 29-year-old added. "So yeah, there is some adjustments to be made. I didn't play well in Canada, I didn't feel well on the court in Canada, either, so definitely, hopefully a step forward here."
