{"id":2626,"date":"2026-08-12T11:08:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2626"},"modified":"2026-08-12T11:08:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:08:51","slug":"alexander-zverev-reveals-easy-fix-to-sad-reality-of-canadian-open-and-cincinnati-withdrawals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2626","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Zverev reveals \u2018easy fix\u2019 to \u2018sad reality\u2019 of Canadian Open and Cincinnati withdrawals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexander Zverev<\/a> has\u00a0called for an \u201can easy fix\u201d to be implemented at Masters 1000 tournaments as he addressed the high number of players who have withdrawn from Canada and Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

A total of 16 players \u2014 eight men and eight women \u2014 pulled out of the Canadian Open before main draw play got underway, while 14 players have withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open, which will begin tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Karolina Muchova, Victoria Mboko, Jasmine Paolini and Emma Raducanu are some of the high-profile stars to miss both events, while Novak Djokovic skipped Canada.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the ATP Tour<\/a> extended the Masters 1000 events in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai to two weeks (12 days) and increased the number of players in the singles draws to 96.<\/p>\n

The same expansion was applied to tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami and Shanghai in 2024, while it was introduced in Canada and Cincinnati starting with the 2025 editions.<\/p>\n

Prior to the changes, seven of the nine Masters tournaments were played over a single week and featured 56-player singles draws, with Indian Wells and Miami each lasting 10 days.<\/p>\n

Zverev<\/a> is one of a host of big name players to criticise the extended Masters 1000 format.<\/p>\n

ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n

ATP Cincinnati Open draw 2026: Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev & Rafael Jodar in same half<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Former ATP Tour doctor details the biggest issue with Jannik Sinner\u2019s knee injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his pre-tournament press conference in Cincinnati, Zverev was asked if players are under pressure to prioritise Canada or Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what two-week events do, unfortunately, if there is a Slam coming after that,\u201d replied the 29-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you play everything and you\u2019re a top player, you spend seven weeks here in North America. That is quite a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s why a lot of top players, they choose not to play Canada for multiple years now. That\u2019s unfortunately the sad reality of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how this issue can be fixed, Zverev called for the one-week Masters format to be brought back in Canada and Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow it always was. Quite simple,\u201d Zverev said. \u201cMake us be here for two weeks, not seven.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Masters, it\u2019s two weeks for both of them, and I think that\u2019s an easy fix, regarding top players playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zverev was also asked if players would be willing to earn less money if Masters tournaments reverted to the traditional one-week format.<\/p>\n

The French Open champion questioned whether the longer Masters events have led to an increase in prize money as he compared what he earned for his Rome titles in 2017 and 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting question, you know why? Because we\u2019ve had this conversation,\u201d said Zverev. \u201cAnd the money that tournaments are spending is obviously more because there\u2019s more [players in the] first round that you have to pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut actually if you win the tournament; I can compare because I won the Rome Masters back in 2017, and I think I got close to a million euros back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I won it seven years later, 2024, I got 900 grand, so\u00a0actually, I got less money for winning the same tournament seven years later than I did seven years prior.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t think it\u2019s less money if you win, necessarily, if the weeks are shorter.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Cincinnati Open withdrawal list: 14 names now out as Jannik Sinner withdraws<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Alexander Zverev reveals \u2018easy fix\u2019 to \u2018sad reality\u2019 of Canadian Open and Cincinnati withdrawals<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Zverev has\u00a0called for an \u201can easy fix\u201d to be implemented at Masters 1000 tournaments as he addressed the high number of players who have withdrawn from Canada and Cincinnati. A total of 16 players \u2014 eight men and eight women \u2014 pulled out of the Canadian Open before main draw play got underway, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}