Canadian Open director urges schedule changes after Sinner and Djokovic withdraw

The tournament director of the Canadian Open has called for adjustments to the player calendar, saying changes are needed to the "demanding schedule" after Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Masters 1000 event. The comments followed the pair’s late exits from the tournament.

The Canadian Open is one of the ATP and WTA Masters 1000 events on the professional tennis calendar, and organisers faced scrutiny when two of the sport’s biggest names pulled out. The tournament director publicly described the sequence of withdrawals as evidence that the current timetable places excessive strain on players. He used the phrase "demanding schedule" to characterise the issue and argued for change in response to Sinner’s and Djokovic’s decisions to withdraw.

Those departures drew attention because both players were originally entered to compete in the Masters 1000 tournament. The director framed their absence as symptomatic of a wider problem with how events are scheduled across the season. He said the situation required a reassessment of the existing structure to better protect player welfare and tournament integrity. The comment linked directly to the timing and clustering of high-level events on the tour.

Organisers and stakeholders now face the task of considering what specific modifications might be appropriate, according to the director’s statement. He suggested that the pattern of tournaments and travel demands contribute to mounting pressure on athletes. The remark emphasised that the current format can lead to withdrawals from headline players, which has knock-on effects for tournaments and fans. No further detail on proposed reforms was provided in his initial comments.

The withdrawals of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic were cited as the catalysts for the director’s appeal for change. Both players had been scheduled for the Masters 1000 event before pulling out, prompting the director to reiterate concerns about player workloads. He maintained that the series of events on the calendar needs to be examined with the aim of reducing excessive demands.

The director’s statement puts the spotlight on scheduling as a contentious issue within professional tennis, raised here after two high-profile absences at the Canadian Open. Tournament organisers and governing bodies will be under pressure to consider whether adjustments are required to the current timetable to address the "demanding schedule" highlighted in his comments.