Casper Ruud uncovers the unfair financial policies for non-European players in Madrid and Rome Masters

Tennis professional Casper Ruud explains why 96 players in Madrid Rome is not fair.

Casper Ruud uncovers the unfair financial policies for non-European players in Madrid and Rome Masters

Casper Ruud is not a big fan of the new format of 96 players, 32 Seeds introduced in the Madrid Open and the Italian Open this year. In 2022, both tournaments had 56 draws for singles and 16 seeds. The reason he is not too happy about the entire situation is that the tennis professional feels if players from outside of the continent get knocked out of the tournament very early on, they will still have to stay in Europe. This means they will have to shell out more money to put up their entire team in Europe, even when they are not playing tennis.

As traveling TO and FRO from Europe is tough for these players they will need to stay on in Europe until the next tournament a long break in between tournaments. The situation gets especially sticky for Top 10 players as they are not allowed to play the Challengers events in between too.

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Though he wrongly mentioned Diego Schwartzman to be Top 10, his concerns from a purely financial standpoint are valid. Taylor Fritz is from the USA and Schwartzman is from Argentina. So traveling back to their country for a week in between could prove counter-productive. Hence they continue to stay in Europe to play in the upcoming tournaments.

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Other players who could face similar challenges are Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov from Canada, and Frances Tiafoe, and Tommy Paul both from the USA. In the southern hemisphere this could be a problem for Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios (had he been playing). Stay in Europe is on average costlier than other places in the world and when players are not competing they have to bear the entire cost of the team.

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Why have Madrid Open and Italian Open formats changed?

Casper Ruud (Image Credit: The Times of India)
Casper Ruud (Image Credit: The Times of India)

The last few years have been a bit rocky for tennis. The 5-month slump following the pandemic, players spectators vaccination-related challenges. There were protests of the players on the prize money division and ultimately challenges brought on by Russia Ukraine war. ATP President Andrea Gaudenzi feels that Masters 1000 profits can represent the backbone of future sport sustainability. Hence Gaudenzi’s strategic plan is to extend all Masters 1000 tournaments to 11-12 day joint tournaments with 96-player draws. 

This transformation phase 1 is starting in 2023 starting with Madrid Open. It’s been scheduled for 5 events so far.

  • Mutua Madrid Open (from 2023)
  • Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome, from 2023)
  • Rolex Shanghai Masters (from 2023)
  • National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Canada, from 2025)
  • Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati, from 2025)

Hopefully, these changes will help in distributing the profits evenly among players and make the sport more sustainable

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