Rublev echoes Sinner criticism of late-night ATP scheduling

Andrey Rublev has unleashed some home truths prior to his start at the ATP Finals in Turin, with the four-time participant in the year-ender joining Jannik Sinner in slamming the sanctioning body for boor scheduling.

Last week at Paris Bercy, world No. 4 Sinner refused to play his third-round match, which had been scheduled barely 12 hours after his previous finish at 2:30 a.m.

The German-speaking Italian said there was no way he could have prepared and rested properly for the follow-up match and hit out at a poor tournament  timetable.

The ATP seems not to have learned a lesson from that incident, with night singles matches at this week’s Finals in Turin starting an hour later than last years, at 9 p.m. – almost guaranteeing six nights of post-midnight finishes.

Rublev did not spare his criticism of the calendar chaos as he spoke to Ubitennis about his support of Sinner’s Paris pull-out.

“It’s not nice that an incredible player and person like Jannik, who you would always like to see play, can’t do it because he finishes late.

“I perfectly understand. The most important players, who are also the ones who can bring more people to tennis, should be treated better.” 

The member of the ATP Board added: “The idea is that if you start at 11 in the morning you can’t have more than 5 matches in a day on the same court, while in Bercy there were six.

“In Grand Slams this situation is a little easier to manage because, even if you finish late, you have the day free to recover. 

“At the Masters 1000, however, there is often no day off in between, so it becomes more complicated.”