Andy Roddick recently spoke on the extended format for the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open. Each of the two Masters 1000 events used to take place over a week before they got expanded to 96 players in the main draw and their respective durations were increased to 12 days.
What Andy Roddick Has Said About the Extended Format of the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open
On a recent episode of his “Served” podcast, Roddick defended the extended format of the two events claiming that other events should follow the same format. For those unversed, the combined duration for the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open is less than that for the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, and the Madrid Open and Italian Open.
Players can play the quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final in Toronto/Montreal and Cincinnati on successive days, which is not the case in the other Masters 1000 events that go on for over a week.
“I’m down with the three weeks of things. I just think all the other ones should do it, too. I think it worked. Did we watch any less; were we any less enthused because the final was on a Thursday night? I was happy it was on a Thursday night, to be honest with you,” the former World No. 1 said.
“Yeah, you have to play the matches at night. You have to like backload all your semis, finals and you know you’re running into some scheduling things with rain but it made zero difference if the finals were on a Sunday or a Saturday to me,” he added.
Speaking further, Roddick said that he liked the “three-week model”(combined duration for Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open) more than he thought.
“Now, why can’t Madrid and Rome do that? Why can’t Indian Wells and Miami do that? It’s separate ownership structures and whatever,” Roddick said.
“I like it way more than I thought, with the two events smashed up against each other. The 3-week model doesn’t bother me,” he added.
The former US Open champion revealed that he was pleasantly surprised with how the Canadian Open played out as he thought it was going to be “super weird.”
“I’m just saying, if we’re pulling back and just saying like, what’s best for the ATP schedule, this worked,” Roddick said. “I thought it was going to be super weird.”
Players only get a very short break between the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, and those in Madrid and Rome. Speaking further, Roddick said that he would prefer a rest week being added instead of two Masters 1000/WTA 1000 events being held over four weeks.
He said, “Rest week should exist as rest weeks, not rest days in some bed that you’ve never slept in, in some hotel that you go to for four days a year. That’s not rest to me. That’s not proactive training, that’s not all these things.”
Coco Gauff on the Expanded Format for Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open
World No. 2 Coco Gauff, who recently won the ladies’ doubles tournament in Montreal, questioned the format adopted for the tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati.
“Overlapping is just tough for all, even on the doubles aspect. Next year, even though I won Montreal, I am thinking should I play or not,” she answered when asked about the format.
