DPA
Turin (Italy)
Amid the debate about the overly exhausting tennis season, world number two Alexander Zverev believes a tournament week in controversial Saudi Arabia is unavoidable.
"Saudi Arabia must be included in the calendar so that the season is shorter,” he said on the sidelines of the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Since he is a member of the players’ council, he knows "the politics behind it a bit,” the German said.
"You need the money from Saudi Arabia to buy back tournaments,” Zverev said referring to the fact that the men’s ATP tour has sold the licenses to stage the tournaments to the organizers.
Zverev suggested that with more money - in this case from Saudi Arabia - players wouldn’t have to play so many tournaments.
"If you add a week with Saudi Arabia, you can buy back four or five weeks (buy back licenses from organizers),” he said.
The debate over the season being too long and the recovery and preparation time for the new year being too short is an ongoing topic in tennis.
After the ATP Finals, which runs until Sunday, there is still the final round of the Davis Cup, which Zverev decided to skip to have a break and focus on his goals as a singles player.
Between the Davis Cup finals and the season opener United Cup in Australia there’s only around a month.
Saudi Arabia is trying to increase its participation in the tennis world. The women’s WTA Finals were recently held in Riyadh for the first time with a record prize money.
The city also held the Six Kings Slam exhibition event featuring stars such as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Each player received $1.5 million only for participating.