{"id":315581,"date":"2025-08-03T21:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T21:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315581\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T21:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T21:57:12","slug":"canadian-open-tournament-director-says-if-she-will-make-changes-after-backlash-this-year-was-clearly-not-ideal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315581\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Open tournament director says if she will make changes after backlash, ‘this year was clearly not ideal’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Canadian Open has been on the end of some heavy criticism at this year\u2019s tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been numerous big name withdrawals from this year\u2019s tournament, with Jannik Sinner<\/a>, Novak Djokovic<\/a> and Carlos Alcaraz pulling out of the men\u2019s Canadian Open event<\/a>, while Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> elected to skip the WTA<\/a> tournament.<\/p>\n

This is not the only criticism that the event has received, with Frances Tiafoe calling the Canadian Open \u2018garbage\u2019<\/a> for something that has changed this year.<\/p>\n

While Alexander Zverev has spoken about the conditions at the Canadian Open<\/a> and has called them \u2018ridiculous\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now, both tournament directors of the Canadian Open have answered these critics<\/a> and revealed if they plan to make changes.<\/p>\n

\"APhoto by Minas Panagiotakis\/Getty ImagesTournament director of WTA Canadian Open responds to criticism<\/p>\n

For the first time this year the Canadian Open<\/a> is taking place over 12 days, and will actually hold its finals on a Thursday, instead of the traditional Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Open<\/a> is also taking place over 12 days this year, meaning that the Canadian Open has been brought forward.<\/p>\n

This gave just two weeks between the conclusion of Wimbledon and the start of the Canadian Open, something that is being suggested has caused more withdrawals for the ATP<\/a>\/WTA events.<\/p>\n

\n

After many consecutive weeks of competition without rest, I will not be able to play in Toronto this year. I have small muscles issues and I need to recover physically and mentally for what comes next. To the tournament and to my fans in Canada I am very sorry, I will see you\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) July 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View Tweet<\/p>\n

Now, former player and tournament director of the women\u2019s Canadian Open event, Valerie Tetreault, has spoken in a press conference about the issues that have been present this year.<\/p>\n

Tetreault confirmed that there is currently no plan to alternate the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open at the moment, but suggested that she does expect there to be less withdrawals in 2026 as there will be an extra week between Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the first question, it\u2019s not part of any discussion right now, you know, the possibility of alternating between Cincinnati and Canada in terms of the weeks in the calendar,\u201d said Tetreault. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat being said, I do think that this year we were probably more impacted because of the two weeks in between Wimbledon and our tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is that 2026 and 2027 will be what we call the long summer calendar. So we\u2019ll have an extra week, so there will be, again, three weeks in between Wimbledon and the National Bank Open. I do think that will make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it allows basically anyone who goes pretty deep at Wimbledon to still have somewhere close to a week to take some time off and recover before they can start thinking again about the hard court season. So I think, unfortunately, this year was clearly not ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit relieved that in Montreal we weren\u2019t too impacted. I think in the end, there\u2019s only Aryna Sabalenka really who made the choice to skip Montreal to have a little bit extra time. The other players who weren\u2019t here, it was mostly for longer-term injuries and nothing that had to do of a choice of playing or not Montreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has the ATP Canadian Open tournament director said about withdrawals?<\/p>\n

Sabalenka was the only seeded player to withdraw from the women\u2019s event in Canada this year not due to injury.<\/p>\n

However, the men\u2019s tournament saw seven seeded players withdraw including Sinner and Alcaraz<\/a>, which tournament director of the men\u2019s Canadian Open, Karl Hale, has admitted he was \u2018disappointed\u2019 about.<\/p>\n

Hale does appear to have faith in the new 12-day Masters 1000 events, and revealed that he would be speaking to ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, it\u2019s a really good question,\u201d Hale said in his press conference. \u201cThe good news is that Sunday was sold out, and nobody knew who the matchups were. So tennis is doing extremely well in this marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are obviously disappointed in the withdrawals, but we\u2019ve spoken to the players. We have spoken to the tour, Andrea, the CEO of ATP, is coming this week, so we\u2019ll have discussions with him about how to improve situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new 12-day model, so we\u2019ll work through the process, but we\u2019re very happy with it to date, and we\u2019ll continue growing as we move along.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Open is now moving into its latter stages, with the finals day taking place on Thursday, August 7, before Cincinnati will take over.<\/p>\n

Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic and Sabalenka all still remain in the draws for the Cincinnati Open, with the Canadian Open mostly impacted by the extension of 1000 level events to 12 days.<\/p>\n