"How psychotic are we that we play 11 months a year": Amid Madrid injuries, Andy Roddick and renowned sports surgeon take aim at tiring schedule

Former world number one Andy Roddick and renowned sports surgeon Joshua S. Dines took a dig at the tiring tennis schedule. Recently, many top men’s players have suffered injuries during the Madrid Open. The list featured the likes of world number two Jannik Sinner of Italy, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, and Jiri Lehecka.

Talking about it, former world number one Roddick and Dines criticised the schedule, which, according to him, is ‘psychotic’. “Sinner was training in the gym in Madrid, lifting because he had to do his lifting cycles during these events because there's no off time,” said Roddick.

“Am I an idiot for thinking that these weeks would be better spent intentionally being somewhere where you're not switching time zones, surfaces, et cetera? NFL [players get] seven to eight months off; NBA, four months off; Euro soccer, three to four months off; baseball, three to four months off. How psychotic are we in tennis that we play 11, 11-and-a-half months a year?”

“Resting at a hotel, even if it’s a Four Seasons, knowing you’re going to play the next day, is completely different than being somewhere else that’s really your home, your own bed, your own routine, [to] really rest,” said Dines. “As a fan, I love to watch those tournaments. From a player’s perspective, I’d rather get the work done then recover.”

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