Lawsuits, burnout and rising stress: Can tennis discover a method out of this mess?

In the remaining weeks of the 2025 tennis season, it appeared as if so many of the sport’s points were colliding to paint the image of one sad mess. As gamers melted in Shanghai, Holger Rune requested “do you want a player to die on the court?”, surprised by the lack of a heat rule on the ATP Tour. It made for some dramatic headlines, but mirrored how several off-court topics dominated the agenda after September’s US Open. Iga Swiatek was essential of the obligatory necessities of WTA tournaments, calling the season “too long and too intense” as several gamers cut their campaigns short, citing burnout. “Mentally and emotionally I am at breaking point and sadly I am not alone,” said Daria Kasatkina.

At the same time, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka went on file, on behalf of a group of main gamers from the males’s and girls’s prime 10s, in calling for more prize money from the grand slam tournaments and criticising the lack of progress in discussions on participant welfare. The 22-year-old Rune, who was making a late push for the ATP Finals, tore his Achilles tendon, a horrific damage that sparked further concern around the tennis calendar and led to Jack Draper being significantly vocal in calling for change, as the British No 1 continues to nurse his own left arm damage.

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And this all came as the 4 grand slam tournaments, as properly as the ATP and WTA, confronted legal motion from the breakaway Professional Tennis Players Association, with a lawsuit citing “systemic abuse, anti-competitive practices, and a blatant disregard for player welfare”.

These points – schedule, participant welfare, prize money – are nothing new. Indeed, with the 2026 season now underway and the Australian Open around the nook, the same discussions would have taken place last 12 months, the 12 months before that, and so on. The presence of the legendary Venus Williams in the Australian Open predominant draw, after the 45-year-old accepted a wildcard into the match, is perhaps symbolic of a sport that typically takes its time to alter course.

Many level to the reality that tennis has seven governing our bodies, in the ATP, WTA, ITF and the 4 historic grand slam occasions in Wimbledon, Roland Garros, the Australian Open and the US Open, means getting everyone around the same desk is difficult enough.

But the strain is on from dissatisfied gamers. Take, for instance, the feeling of “disappointment” as the Australian Open announced file prize money for the 2026 match, a rise that was in line with the increase of Tennis Australia’s revenues from the earlier 12 months. Players need to be compensated with a better slice and, in a letter to the grand slams, have outlined their goal of reaching 22 per cent of match revenues by 2030.

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The group of main gamers also really feel their calls for better session in match issues, such as scheduling and the new Sunday begins at three of their 4 grand slams, as properly as contributions to pensions, have been ignored. When talking to The Independent last season, Draper said that while it may look like gamers are complaining, they are “advocating for positive change”. But stress is rising.

The grand slams insist they are “always open to having constructive discussions” for the “future success” of tennis but the ongoing legal case filed by the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) was a stumbling block for further talks at the US Open in September, after the 4 grand slam tournaments were added to the antitrust lawsuit.

Since then, the group, which accused the sport’s governing our bodies of working a “cartel” through its “monopolistic control”, reached an settlement to settle with Tennis Australia, the organisers of the Australian Open, which is undisclosed.

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Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic has cut all ties with the PTPA, the physique he co-founded in 2020, due to “ongoing concerns regarding transparency, governance, and the way my voice and image have been represented”. The ATP and WTA both strongly rejected the PTPA’s claims and have been joined by Wimbledon, Roland Garros and the US Open in submitting claims to dismiss the lawsuit.

Frustration around ‘insane’ schedule

“Tennis is a sport where the players are the prize asset,” Jack Draper said last autumn, as star gamers on both the ATP and WTA were working on empty and frustration around the schedule was once again rising to the floor. In an interview with The Tennis Podcast, Draper was significantly vocal in his criticism of the expanded 12-day Masters occasions. “I haven’t heard one player say they like it,” Draper said.

Draper, 23, highlighted how “lonely” the 12-day Masters had become, rather than bodily demanding. “When you’re out there, five matches in seven days is so much easier than seven matches in 14 days because there’s so much dead time, there’s so much waiting around.”

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The head of the ATP, Andrea Gaudenzi, has made the 12-day Masters (presently seven of the 9, with Monte Carlo and Paris the exceptions) a key pillar of the ATP’s OneImaginative and prescient plan. He said tournaments will be in a position to increase their revenues by promoting more tickets, permitting them to invest in infrastructure and for the gamers to obtain a better share.

While answering questions on the “complex” calendar in an interview printed by the ATP, Gaudenzi urged prime gamers to commit to a “smart calendar”, prioritising the prime occasions – the grand slams, Masters 1000s and a few 500s – rather than “playing down”. The ATP has meanwhile cut the obligatory quantity of 500 occasions from 5 to 4 forward of 2026. The WTA says participant welfare is a “top priority” and says it has listened to complaints from the gamers on the calendar.

Players are more and more taking issues into their own arms, however. Aryna Sabalenka has outlined that she will proceed skipping some obligatory WTA 500 occasions, taking a penalty in rankings factors in the course of, in order to keep recent for the grand slams and 1000s.

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Sabalenka labelled the schedule and obligatory necessities as “insane”, with prime gamers on the WTA mandated to play at least six WTA 500s as properly as the 4 grand slams and 10 WTA 1000 tournaments. Sabalenka, as the No 1 in the world, is at least in the place to be more versatile, while also competing in exhibitions such as December’s ‘Battle of the Sexes’.

Carlos Alcaraz has also continued to play in exhibitions despite his criticism of the tennis calendar, with the males’s No 1 explaining that he enjoys taking part in in those occasions and does not discover them bodily taxing. The look charges undoubtedly help, too, while creating a loophole where stars can be deducted bonuses by skipping obligatory tour occasions only to recoup it elsewhere, such as October’s profitable Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia. Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner started their season with an exhibition in South Korea, rather than taking part in warm-up occasions in Australia.

Alcaraz performed the most matches on the ATP Tour last season, with 80; unsurprisingly, perhaps, given how recurrently he reached the latter phases of tournaments, while Sabalenka’s 75 matches were the most in the WTA. At the other finish of the scale, as defined by the ATP chairman Gaudenzi, the lower-ranked gamers will compete in more tournaments, but with a far decrease quantity of matches.

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But gamers who crash out of a match early one week are incentivised to enter another the next as they chase rating factors to preserve or improve their place in the rolling 52-week leaderboard. It has been described by three-time grand slam finalist Casper Ruud as a “rat race”. There is a sense that this two-tier cut up is not benefitting anyone.

Over several years, key stakeholders have been working on options to the structural points recognized within the sport’s calendar and schedule.

One suggestion has been a ‘less-is-more’ strategy and a ‘premium’ circuit, that ensures the prime stars competing at the prime occasions in between the grand slams and with outlined mid-season breaks that permit for gamers to be brisker for the 4 most important occasions of the 12 months. The lower-ranked tournaments would stay, feeding into the prime tier.

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But as the energy in tennis stays so fragmented, any proposed reforms – from the gamers, the tours, or the grand slams – have lacked the collective backing to be taken ahead. Tennis stays caught having the same discussions about the same topics.

There has been at least one new transfer forward of the 2026 season, however. After the state of Shanghai, the ATP has launched a new heat rule that will implement a 10-minute cooling break or the suspension of play if gamers, spectators or ball youngsters are at risk of heat stress. Change can occur. It just typically takes its time.