The wave of withdrawals from the Canadian Open has again turned attention to the demands of the ATP Tour.

Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner have all already confirmed they will not play the Masters event, while Alexander Bublik and Sebastian Korda are among the other names to have pulled out.

A number of explanations have been offered for why the tournament has become less attractive to leading players, with the expanded two-week format often identified as a major factor. Most Masters events were stretched from seven to 12 days for the 2025 season, a change that has drawn clear criticism from players.

Andrea Petkovic, though, believes the issue reaches further than the event’s placement on the calendar. Speaking on The Big T Podcast, she argued that the men’s season is simply too long and forces players to manage their energy with care.

“I do think that it’s not only the placement in the calendar it’s that the men do play three, four weeks longer. The women are done after the first week in November which is already an absurdly long season if you compare it to other sports.

“There is not a single sport that doesn’t have a six week break somewhere there or eight week break. Sometimes tennis doesn’t have that, right? You have to like somehow get your vacation in and then already prep for the next season.

“And I think for the men because the season is even longer than for the women already, they have to they have to manage their energies. And I do think that it is an issue also a little bit with the two week events. I don’t think all two week events are problematic.

“But if you have Cincinnati and Montreal back to back as two week events, it’s too much. It’s too much. And so I think the best players like Jannik and like Novak, they will think who where are all the players that I need to play against if I want to see where my form is at before the US Open.

“That’s Cincinnati. And so they make a choice. And it’s unfortunate for Canada because it’s a lovely place. Montreal was always one of my favorites on tour.

“I loved going there. But I do think for the men it’s much more crowded than for the women. I think that’s why the women go and play and the men have to I don’t know if they have to choose, but they choose not to.”

The men’s season also runs through the Davis Cup and ATP Finals, which extends it further than the WTA Tour. While many top players commit to the ATP Finals, interest in the Davis Cup has fallen in recent years.

Ben Shelton has stepped in to support Jannik Sinner after the world No. 1 came under scrutiny for pulling out of the Canadian Open.

Sinner, along with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, will not feature at the Masters event. The Italian said he wanted to “prioritise his health”, a decision that has drawn questions, especially because he was on course to become the first player in tennis history to win every Masters event in a single calendar year.

Even so, Sinner has also drawn approval from former players, with Kim Clijsters among those to praise his choice to sit out the tournament.

Shelton, who is competing at the Washington Open before moving on to the Canadian Open, also defended Sinner during his press conference.

“I’m not sure how sustainable the current circuit setup is. I think, for me, the biggest concern is injuries. Sinner knows his body better than anyone, like all players,” he said during his Washington Open press conference.

“If Jannik and Novak feel physically and mentally prepared, they’ll play. In my opinion, they don’t miss a tournament without a reason. (Jannik) is winning as many matches as he plays; his match count is extremely high. How is he going to be able to play in all the tournaments? I don’t think it’s sustainable.”

The numbers help explain Shelton’s point. Sinner has already played 47 matches on the ATP Tour this season, despite skipping several tournaments. Shelton, by comparison, has played 36 matches across the first seven months of the year, while also collecting three ATP titles.

Sinner’s schedule has still been packed with matches at the events he has entered. He has reached the final of every tournament he has played this season except the Australian Open, the Qatar Open and Roland Garros. His loss at Roland Garros was also the only time he exited a tournament before the quarter-finals.

That becomes more notable when set against the fact that Sinner took most of the grass court season off. For the world No. 1, the strategy may be a practical way to manage fatigue and health without giving up on his Grand Slam ambitions.

If that approach continues, it could become a pattern not just for Sinner, but for other leading players on the ATP Tour as well.

The Canadian Open has quietly turned into one of the ATP Tour’s hardest events to sell to the game’s biggest names. In recent seasons, Novak Djokovic has skipped it since 2018, while Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have also stayed away from the North American tournament over the last two years.

That stands in sharp contrast to the event’s earlier prestige. In 2010, the title was lifted by names such as Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. More recently, the trophy has gone to Alexei Popyrin and Ben Shelton, a shift that has only sharpened the sense that the event is struggling to hold its status with the top of the game.

A number of explanations have been offered for the pattern. The two-week Masters format is one of the most common. Others point to the length of the North American hard-court swing, while the heat and the tournament’s timing close to Wimbledon have also been cited.

Whatever the cause, the issue has become difficult to ignore, and Mark Petchey believes he has an answer. Speaking on The Big T Podcast, the former coach of Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu argued that the ATP should consider a special arrangement to help the Canadian Open draw leading players through guarantees.

“I honestly think the only fix for Canada on the ATP side is again to make a kind of separate rule for them, so that they can entice the top players with a guarantee,” he explained.

“Which obviously they they can’t pay guarantees at the thousand level because the bonus pool has been put in there to try and protect the tournaments.

“It’s not really for the players. It’s to protect the tournament so they don’t have to pay out more money if the top players don’t play,” he continued.

“But I’m almost of the opinion that Canada feels as though it’s going to be a difficult child syndrome for the ATP. And if you’re going to try and help them, you almost have to loosen the purse strings.”

The bonus pool is distributed to the top 30 players at Masters events who have played eight or more tournaments on the ATP Tour calendar. It is worth $21.5 million and is based on rankings points collected at those elite events. With Sinner’s withdrawal, he is now one tournament away from no longer being eligible for consideration. His bonus pool earnings for 2026 will also be reduced by 25%, although that figure is unlikely to matter much given the millions he has already earned this season.