Tackling the ATP calendar debate thats split Federer, Zverev & Djokovic and providing a more environmentally friendly solution

The debate over the ATP calendar has raged on for many years and reared its head once again in the final week of the 2018 season.

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev all put their points of view across; all making salient and reasonable comments on the situation.

Tackling each of their very real concerns regarding jobs for the many and season length is no mean feat but when you factor in the environmental challenges facing the planet as a whole in 2019, it becomes a bit of a mammoth task.

It is, however, not too sizeable a problem for us here at Metro.co.uk and we have attempted to provide a solution to the tennis calendar.

First, lets take a look at the problems:

Zverevs length complaints

He may only be 21 but the young German didnt hold back in his assessment of the length of the season, branding it ridiculous.

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The issue is that our season is way too long, he said at the ATP Finals. Thats the issue.

But Ive said it before. We play for 11 months a year. Thats ridiculous. No other professional sport does that.

In a later press conference at the O2 he expanded on his point further, adding: Its not about the amount of tennis we play inside of that year, its how long we have off.

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Even if youre not playing for a week in a tournament, you cant take that week off. You have to be training, you have to be preparing.

We dont have time to prepare, so the body, mental-wise, also we dont have time to give ourselves rest. That you can only really do during an off-season, not when theres other tournaments going on which youre not playing at.

We need the holidays to kind of recover. Having two weeks to prepare yourself, body and mentally for the new season, is not in my opinion enough. If you ask any coach out there, I dont think theyll disagree with me.

Federers jobs for the many

Federer is a man whos been around the block and his knowledge of the tour was evident when he pointed out the number of jobs that would be lost should it become condensed.

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You can get rid of 20 tournaments, the 20-time Grand Slam champion said. I dont know who wants that. Not those 20 tournaments. Not the 200 or 1000 players on tour. Thats one option.

The other option is as a team, player and team, to decide which are your priorities and how much can a body take, how much can a mind take, how much travel can someone endure.

The good thing is we as players are not employed by a club. I can walk right now out of the door and go onto vacation if I want to. Nobody is going to stop me. They wont like it, but I can. Thats a massive privilege, I believe, that a tennis player has.

Djokovics proposed compromise

Its true I do think it should be shorter with more quality and focus on some big events, maybe not that spread out, the Serb said.

At the same time I understand the point of creating more job opportunities, and I dont say that we should take away tournaments. Maybe we can switch it around. We have different options.

Maybe at the end of the year we can end up last couple weeks with a South American swing, or 250s, some 500s, end up, so to say, the big tournament season a bit earlier.

Environmental challenges

While Djokovic, Federer and Zverev all raise valid points, arguably the biggest challenge facing tennis – and sport as a whole – is the environmental damage being done by excessive air travel.

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Tennis is a global game and Im not calling for it all to be based in one country, but there are clear issues with the calendar that could dramatically reduce the impact on the planet.

From an environmental perspective, the tennis calendar in its current form is simply unacceptable.

Travelling (roughly speaking) from Australia to America to Europe back to America on to Asia and then back to Europe is just farcical and should be dramatically rethought.

How to solve the tennis problems?

Djokovic, in my opinion, is on the right track with his suggestion of a 250/500 swing, but I feel it would be better served at the beginning of the season than the end.

If placed at the end of the year, it will feel completely meaningless. At the start it can serve as a warm-up period, where players could treat events like pre-season friendlies before they kick off with the bigger events.

Its my suggestion, therefore, that the Australian Open is pushed back almost a month. Having a Grand Slam so close to the start of the year severely impacts the players off-seasons, forcing them to be perfect from the word go.

I would also suggest having multiple calendar beginnings, so that players can compete near to where their homes are. Adjacent European, South American and Australasian swings all seem viable.

That simple change – along with a couple of the environmental changes well move onto – can condense the season dramatically.

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Challenges in implementing these changes

As is always the case in tennis, there are significant sticking points when trying to get things done, as Djokovic himself pointed out:

Djokovic on problems changing the calendar

Its not that easy because you need to first of all discuss it, vote it in the council. Obviously then it has to go through the tournaments, through the board. The complexity of our sport is the fact that we have so many different ownerships of tournaments. We have private owners, we have agencies, we have ATP, ITF, Grand Slams, federations.

Just to be able to really say, “Okay, lets have a blank paper and move things around, congest this, spread it out, whatever, make the ideal calendar”, its not that simple because it has to go through different filters.

I think the good thing is we are discussing this. Obviously whether or not something will change, we cant predict that, but were working on it.

Some – such as former Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Mark Philippoussis are actively against any changes. He told Metro.co.uk when asked about the environmental impacts of the calendar:

Philippoussis on the ATP calendar

You cant move the Aussie Open because its Aussie summer time – you cant move it.

And its the perfect time to do it because everyone has had a bit of a break – some more than others. But at least youve got time to get out there and theres tournaments before so you can get there early and prepare and get used to the time change and everything. People love Australia.

After that, though, theres guys and girls who love playing in America, love playing in Europe so, to be honest, I think its done well.

Former British No. 1 Greg Rusedski agreed players should be doing more, but was unconvinced that tackling air travel at this moment in time is the way forward, telling Metro.co.uk:

Rusedski on the ATP calendar

Its a global sport. We can do our ways for the environment in different ways.

Unless theyre going to make air travel green – Im on the electric car thing now, trying to do the recycling, you try to do your things. The carbon footprint in the air thing you cant really do much about unless youre going to stop eating meat as well, thats another thing.

Theres different ways you can fight your carbon footprint. But a global sport as well thats what makes it so unique. My technology for air travel electrically hasnt been solved yet so until that gets solved, I dont think the tour is going to change its carbon footprint because tennis is a global sport and always will be but you can say that with any other sport – football, any sport.

Unfortunately this is the modern world. Until some genius comes up and solves that issue with the flights you can only do it in other manners.

One of tennis leading lights with regards to the environment, Kevin Anderson, opened up on the challenges facing air travel at the ATP Finals. The big-serving South African said:

Anderson on environmental challenges

Ive spoken to some other players who want to reduce carbon emissions as well.

There are some great programmes that work out how much youve been flying and what you can do to sort of donate money to great programs that offset that. I think thats probably our first step.

Practically speaking when it comes to calendars, theres just so much involved there. Tournaments have set dates, they have sponsors, holiday weeks… theres so much that goes into it.

Ive seen what its like when it comes to changing the calendar, its very, very difficult. There might be a few changes here and there but it would be tough to have a calendar that reduces travel time.

Anderson is right that in the past tennis chiefs have proven stubborn in forcing through change, but current ATP president Chris Kermode didnt hold back his views on how the game should be run in future when discussing the bickering between the sports governing bodies. He said at the unveiling of the ATP Cup:

Kermode on changing the calendar

To be brutally honest I find the conversations about the groups in tennis quite tiresome. I think its quite outdated that conversation about people staying in their certain sections.

Were the administrators behind the scenes and what weve got to break down is those barriers of people having their own little slots or think they own bits in the calendar… what Im saying is lets all break that down, were looking to try and promote mens professional tennis. Thats my remit.

Hopefully Kermode and the ATP want to promote tennis in a positive light with regards to the environment, although Stefan Gossling, a professor school of business and economics at Linnaeus University, holds reservations over how much change is really wanted.

Gossling on environmental damage caused by sport

The problem is the same for most sports, and I think that athletes may be accountable for a significant share of emissions from aviation. I have seen teams of children fly the world for sports events, and this goes all the way up to the worlds most renowned players, who very well may use private aircraft.

There is no awareness of these issues, I think. Celebrities and politicians in particular seem to think they exist outside the climate change debate.

Our proposed changes

To help illustrate the environmental effects of air travel, Ive mapped four players routes from the 2018 season and built them a (near) matching 2019 travel portfolio based on our new calendar.

The players chosen are Federer, Djokovic, Zverev – the three vocal players on the issue at the ATP Finals – and Stefanos Tsitsipas – who played the highest number of events of the players ranked inside the worlds top-20 (he was also the fourth-most active player in the top-100).

Each player has been assigned a travel class (purely so we can explore the environmental impact of each) so Federer is first class, Djokovic business class, Zverev premium economy and Tsitsipas economy.

The eagle-eyed among you will note that the ATP Cup is not happening in 2019 but for the sake of argument, lets just put it in there as its set to be a mainstay on the calendar in future years.

Without further ado, lets look at each player and how we can dramatically – and rather easily – reduce their carbon footprint.

Calculations notes

• CO2 emmision data and offset costs from Atmosfair
• Calculations only included from tour event to tour event – there will be flights home & flights to other non-ATP events missing – real figure probably far higher (for example, Federer will not have flown directly from Miami to Stuttgart as tournaments were three months apart).
• Its not known what class each player flew in per flight, the figures are designed to show the extra damage each separate class does. Figures also vary from airline to airline so these are just rough estimates.
• It is also not known for certain that each player flew between each destination, although in the majority of cases it is a near-certainty.

Federer: first class

Click to reveal Federer 2018 route Click to return Proposed Federer route

Eighty-seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. Sometimes its worth writing numbers out in words to truly understand their magnitude. Thats the total No. of CO2 emissions (in kilograms) from Roger Federers tour-based flights in 2018, if he flew first class on each of them.

This number is conservative, particularly considering players of Federers ilk often use private aircrafts, while it doesnt factor in flights hes taken to venues at the start and end of the season nor any flights in prolonged periods between events. The 87,865kg carbon footprint he leaves will also be significantly higher when factoring other aspects of his lifestyle. But well work with this number just for the sake of argument.

Perhaps this number doesnt sound that bad to you right now. Well heres a bit of context…

According to The World Bank, CO2 emissions per capita in the UK in 2014 were 6497kg. Federers total is 13-and-a-half times more than the average British person.

Federer 2018 route v proposed route

Federer 2018 route (first class)

Melbourne – Rotterdam (via Dubai): 22,212kg (€512 needed to offset it)
Rotterdam – California: 11,398kg (€263)
California – Miami: 3,808kg (€88)
Miami – Stuttgart: 9,807kg (€226)
Stuttgart – Halle: 875kg (€21)
Halle – London: 1,480kg (€35)
London – Cincinnati: 7,506 (€173)
Cincinnati – New York: 1,156 (€27)
New York – Shanghai: 16,950kg (€390)
Shanghai – Basel: 11,701kg (€270)
Basel – Paris: 624kg (€15)
Paris – London: 348kg (€10)

Total: 87,865kg (€2,030)

Federer proposed route (first class)

Brisbane – Melbourne: 1,432kg (€33)
Melbourne – Dubai: 16,376kg (€377)
Dubai – Basel: 5,355kg (€124)
Basel – Stuttgart: 182kg (€10)
Stuttgart – Halle: 1,750 (€41)
Halle – London : 1,480 (€35)
London – Miami: 9,560 (€220)
Miami – Cincinnati: 1,816kg (€42)
Cincinnati – New York: 1,156kg (€27)
New York – Shanghai: 16,950kg (€390)
Shanghai – Tokyo: 2,284kg (€53)

Total: 58,341kg (€1352)

Federer proposed route (economy)

Brisbane – Melbourne: 573kg (€14)
Melbourne – Dubai: 6,550kg (€151)
Dubai – Basel: 2,142kg (€50)
Basel – Stuttgart: 73kg (€10)
Halle – London: 592kg (€14)
London – Miami: 3824kg (€88)
Miami – Cincinnati: 726kg (€17)
Cincinnati – New York: 462kg (€11)
New York – Shanghai: 6,780kg (€156)
Shanghai – Tokyo: 914kg (€22)

Total: 22,636 (€533)

Realistically, though, the average persons CO2 emissions is already far too high and Atmosfair recommends that we should be looking to cut that total to around 2,300kg per year for each person. Federers total is 38 times higher than this. Its really quite shocking stuff.

With a few adjustments, we can reduce his total – still flying the whole year in first class – by almost 30,000kg-a-year. If we simply make it a more continental route – aka only going to America in one swing rather than two and by not returning to Europe after the Asian swing – then we can make serious environmental changes while also keeping the structure of the tennis calendar in a not too dissimilar order.

The biggest change, though, can be made if players like Federer travel economy rather than first class. If you combine our new calendar and Federer chooses to go economy rather than first, then his carbon footprint is almost four times less at 22,636kg.

For comparison

A footballer who competed for Manchester United and the England national team in 2018 would have racked up a carbon footprint of 23,997kg if they flew in first class every time, or of 9,525kg if they flew economy.

Manchester – Seville (1st class – 2,018kg needed to offset it) & (economy – 807kg)
Seville – Manchester (2,018) & (807)
Manchester – Amsterdam (628) & (215)
Amsterdam – Manchester (628) & (215)
London – Volgograd (3,329) & (1,332)
Volgograd – Nizhny Novgorod (1,051) & (420)
Nizhny Novgorod – Moscow (440) & (176)
Moscow – Samara (988) & (395)
Samara – Moscow (988) & (395)
Moscow – St Petersburg (792) & (317)
St Petersburg – Manchester (2,299) & (920)
Manchester – Turin (1,402) & (561)
Turin – Manchester (1,402) & (561)
Manchester – Bern (1,231) & (492)
Bern – Manchester (1,231) & (492)
Manchester – Valencia (1,776) & (710)
Valencia – Manchester (1,776) & (710)

Totals: (1st class: 23,997kg) & (economy class: 9,525kg)

Djokovic: business class

Click to reveal Djokovic 2018 route Click to return Djokovic proposed route

Its a similar story with Djokovic and the changes made are very similar to Federers, with both playing a similar number of events.

Travelling business class, the 31-year-olds carbon footprint from his tour flights alone totals at roughly 55,697kg.

His reduction under our new route is around 10,000kg to 46,303kg. Again, if the player then chooses to travel economy, then that figure dips even further to 23,918kg – a number close to half of the initial figure.

Djokovic 2018 vs proposed route

Djokovic 2018 route (business class)

Melbourne – California: 14,234kg CO2 (€328 needed to offset it)
California – Miami: 2,856kg (€66)
Miami – Monte-Carlo: 7,397kg (€171)
Monte-Carlo – Barcelona: 491kg (€12)
Barcelona – Madrid: 378kg (€10)
Madrid – Rome: 1,170kg (€27)
Rome – Paris: 852kg (€20)
Paris – London: 261kg (€10)
London – Toronto: 4,512kg (€104)
Toronto – Cincinnati: 711kg (€17)
Cincinnati – New York: 867kg (€20)
New York – Shanghai: 12,713kg (€293)
Shanghai – Paris: 8,994kg (€207)
Paris – London: 261kg (€10)

Total: 55,697kg (€1,295)

Djokovic new route (business class)

Brisbane – Melbourne – 1,074kg (€25)
Melbourne to Dubai – 12,282kg (€283)
Dubai – Monte-Carlo – 3,934kg (€91)
Monte-Carlo – Madrid – 908kg (€21)
Madrid – Rome: 1,170kg (€27)
Rome – Paris: 852kg (€20)
Paris – London: 261kg (€10)
London – Miami: 7,170kg (€165)
Miami – Toronto: 1,401kg (€33)
Toronto – Cincinnati: 711kg (€17)
Cincinnati – New York: 867kg (€20)
New York – Shanghai: 12,713kg (€293)
Shanghai – Tokyo: 2960kg (€69)

Total: 46,303kg (€1,074)

Djokovic proposed route (economy)

Brisbane – Melbourne: 573kg (€14)
Melbourne – Dubai: 6,550kg (€151)
Dubai – Monte Carlo: 2,098kg (€49)
Monte Carlo – Madrid: 484kg (€12)
Madrid – Rome: 514kg (€12)
Rome – Paris: 454kg (€11)
Paris – London: 139kg (€10)
London – Miami: 3824kg (€88)
Miami – Toronto: 747kg (€18)
Toronto – Cincinnati: 379kg (€10)
Cincinnati – New York: 462kg (€11)
New York – Shanghai: 6,780kg (€156)
Shanghai – Tokyo: 914kg (€22)

Total: 23,918kg (€564)

Zverev: premium economy

Click to reveal Zverev 2018 route Click to return Zverev proposed route

The 21-year-old is a little more travelled in 2018 than his more experienced counterparts, and clocks up a whopping 42,252kg even if we assume he travelled in premium economy.

That total can be slashed to 33,896kg in our new route, while dipping a further near-7000kg if he rides economy.

Zverev 2018 route vs proposed route

Zverev 2018 route (premium economy)

Melbourne – Brisbane: 730kg (€17 needed to offset it)
Brisbane – Acapulco: 9,316kg (€215)
Acapulco – California: 1,443kg (€34)
California – Miami: 1,942kg (€45)
Miami – Valencia: 4,629kg (€107)
Valencia – Monte Carlo: 513kg (€12)
Monte Carlo – Munich: 392kg (€10)
Munich – Madrid: 759kg (€18)
Madrid – Rome: 655kg (€16)
Rome – Paris: 579kg (€14)
Paris – Halle: 872kg (€21)
Halle – London: 755kg (€18)
London – Washington: 3,317kg (€77)
Washington – Toronto: 365kg (€10)
Toronto – Cincinnati: 483kg (€12)
Cincinnati – New York: 590kg (€14)
New York – Beijing: 7,750kg (€179)
Beijing – Shanghai: 663kg (€16)
Shanghai – Basel: 5,967kg (€138)
Basel – Paris: 355kg (€11)
Paris – London: 177kg (€10)

Total: 42,252 (€994)

Zverev new route (premium economy)

Brisbane – Melbourne: 730kg (€17)
Melbourne – Germany (via Hong Kong): 9,921kg (€229)
Germany – Basel: 153kg (€10)
Basel – Monte Carlo: 279kg (€10)
Monte Carlo – Munich: 392kg (€10)
Munich – Madrid: 759kg (€18)
Madrid – Rome: 655kg (€16)
Rome – Paris: 579kg (€14)
Paris – Halle: 872kg (€21)
Halle – London: 755kg (€18)
London – Miami: 4,876kg (€113)
Miami – Acapulco: 1,255kg (€29)
Acapulco – Toronto: 1,878kg (€44)
Toronto – Washington: 157kg (€10)
Washington – Cincinnati: 467kg (€11)
Cincinnati – New York: 590kg (€14)
New York – Beijing: 7,750kg (€179)
Beijing – Shanghai: 663kg (€16)
Shanghai – Tokyo: 1,165kg (€27)

Total: 33,896kg (£806)

Zverev new route (economy)

Brisbane – Melbourne: 573kg (€14)
Melbourne – Germany (via Hong Kong): 8,142 (€188)
Germany – Basel: 120kg (€10)
Basel – Monte Carlo: 279kg (€10)
Monte Carlo – Munich: 308kg (€10)
Munich – Madrid: 595kg (€14)
Madrid – Rome: 514kg (€12)
Rome – Paris: 454kg (€11)
Paris – Halle: 684kg (€16)
Halle – London: 592kg (€14)
London – Miami: 3,824kg (€88)
Miami – Acapulco: 984kg (€23)
Acapulco – Toronto: 1,473kg (€34)
Toronto – Washington: 123kg (€10)
Washington – Cincinnati: 366kg (€10)
Cincinnati – New York: 462kg (€11)
New York – Beijing: 6,078kg (€140)
Beijing – Shanghai: 520kg (€12)
Shanghai – Tokyo: 914kg (€22)

Total: 27,005kg (€649)

Tstisipas: economy

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Arguably the biggest test facing tennis is those who go globetrotting frequently in search of rankings points. This is typically more common among younger/lower-ranked players.

Tsitsipas played nearly twice as many events as Federer and Djokovic this year and left a carbon footprint of 58,830kg behind. Thats more than Djokovics business class travels.

It remains the tours responsibility, in my opinion, to offer more environmentally friendly routes and with these simple adjustments, again, Tsitsipas could play the same number of tournaments with almost 20,000kg wiped off his carbon footprint at 39,076kg.

The calendar

There are obviously some changes that wont go down well with everyone… and its worth remembering that this is merely a first draft suggestion!

Maintaining the order of the Grand Slams felt vital and thus the season was primarily arranged around those tournaments.

Relocating Indian Wells proved problematic given the temperatures in the summer, it is perhaps possible to tag it on to the end of the US hard court season after the US Open (although it felt as if the Grand Slam was a natural conclusion for it).

The Paris Masters has long been complained about, while many fans have called for a grass-court Masters 1000 event so that seemed a logical switch. But that could also be relocated rather than removed in the backend of the initial hard court swing with Basel and Stockholm, before the clay-court season kicks off.

This calendar also allows for the Laver Cup and new Davis Cup to be slotted in with relative ease. One potential solution for the Davis Cup would be to hold it at Indian Wells after the US Open – when its a little cooler. However, both those competitions are not under the authority of ATP Tour and so they would have to strike separate agreements.

Proposed ATP calendar

Dec 31 – Cordoba, Montpellier,
January 7 – Buenos Aires, Pune, Marseille
Jan 14 – Rio, Doha, Sofia, Rotterdam
Jan 28 – Sao Paulo,
Feb 4 – ATP Cup & Auckland,
Feb 11 – ATP Cup finishes
Feb 18 – Australian Open
Feb 25 – Australian Open
Mar 4 – St Petersburg, Moscow
Mar 11 – Dubai
Mar 18 – Davis Cup qualifying
Mar 25 – Stockholm, Antwerp, Metz
Apr 1 – Vienna, Basel
Apr 8 – Monte-Carlo
Apr 15 – Budapest, Barcelona
Apr 22 – Munich. Estoril
Apr 29 – Madrid
May 6 – Rome
May 13 – Lyon, Geneva
May 20 – French Open
May 27 – French Open
Jun 3 – Stuttgart, Rosmalen
Jun 10 – Halle, Queens
Jun 17 – Grass masters?
Jun 24 – Eastbourne, Antalya
Jul 1 – Wimbledon
Jul 8 – Wimbledon
Jul 15 – Newport, Houston, Bastad, Umag, Metz
Jul 26 – Hamburg, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel
Jul 15 – Miami
Jul 22 – Atlanta, Acapulco
Jul 29 –Montreal/Toronto
Aug 5 – Washington, Los Cabos,
Aug 12 – Cincinnati
Aug 19 – Winston Salem
Aug 26 – US Open
Sep 2 – US Open
Sep 9 – Marrakech
Sep 16 – Egypt
Sep 23 – Delhi?
Sep 30 – Chengdu, Zhuhai
Oct 7 – Beijing, Tokyo
Oct 14 – Shanghai
Oct 21 – Next Gen finals (move to Asia?)
Oct 28 – ATP finals (Tokyo)

The bottom line is that not everyone is going to be happy, regardless of the changes made. But the important thing to remember is that change simply has to happen.

Its unacceptable that tennis continues in this fashion. Ive highlighted the flight paths of just four players, but there are 1000s of them travelling. For example, world No. 888 Daniil Zarichanskyy played 41 events – a tour high – in five different continents in 2018.

Players have to make a living, of course, and Im by no means suggesting to stop tennis travel or to limit the tour to one continent. But its up to the governing bodies to make sure that the environmental impact of travel is reduced as much as possible.

These changes wont happen over night, but pressure needs to be applied.

At the moment, theyre doing nowhere near enough. If action isnt taken soon, it will be simply be too late.

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