The head of the Paris Masters says discussions are ongoing about how to make the ‘geopolitics’ of the Tour better for players.
Tournament director Cedric Pioline addressed the current schedule after world No.1 Jannik Sinner pulled out of the event earlier this week due to a virus. Sinner had recently been playing at the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia which he won and earned $6M in prize money. The Exhibition is not part of the Tour and players are not obligated to play but many top names were attracted to play due to its extravagent pay. Those participating received an appearance fee of $1.5M.
Sinner, who has also won seven ATP titles this year, hasn’t publically linked his recent illness to traveling from the Middle East to France. Speaking about the Italian’s absence, Pioline said players are more prone to becoming unwell due to their traveling commitments.
“It’s not up to me to judge: each player, including Jannik, organises his season as he sees fit,” the Express quoted Pioline as saying earlier this week.
“We can even say that in general, Jannik is one of those who has a logical schedule, he doesn’t overload his calendar. So he was rather confident.
“As high-level athletes, they are fragile from an immune point of view at the end of the season, there are little things that hang around and that we can catch. Is it bad luck? Probably.”
Elaborating further, Pioline believes the Saudi event has disrupted the Tour. It was held during the same week as three ATP 250 events and ended shortly before the start of two ATP 500 tournaments in Basel and Vienna.
“The geopolitics of the circuit with a lot of things [is something] currently under discussion at the level of the Grand Slams, the ATP and the WTA,” he continued.
“Today, we don’t have an answer but from my point of view, it is certain that we must be vigilant so that there is coherence.
“The money put on the table by this Saudi exhibition is something disruptive, which destabilizes the ecosystem in place and is not necessarily very healthy.”
Out of the six players who took part in the Six Kings Slam, only three are playing in Paris this week. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have both decided to skip the event. Sinner planned to play before becoming ill.
Out of those who are taking part, Daniil Medvedev lost his opening match to Alexei Popyrin. Meanwhile, Holger Rune has won two matches and Carlos Alcaraz has won one so far.
