Data Shows Major Change in 2025 Rolex Paris Masters Court Speed

Headlines about scheduling and court speeds have dominated the final stretch of the ATP season. Instead of focusing on the action on the court, players and fans are divided over the playing conditions.

Speaking on Andy Rodick's podcast recorded at the Laver Cup, Roger Federer introduced the theory that tournament organizers are homogenizing court speeds to create favorable outcomes for Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

Alexander Zverev embraced that theory after a match at the Shanghai Masters, "I know that the tournament directors are going towards that direction because obviously they want Jannik and Carlos to do well every tournament and that's what they prefer."

👇🇫🇷 As many have noticed, there’s been a BIG drop in the CPI at this year’s Paris Masters - making for slower overall conditions pic.twitter.com/i5vX5zdZze
— Olly Tennis 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) October 28, 2025

After his match in Shanghai, Sinner was asked about Zverev's comments and it led to a hilarious spit-take reaction. However, the debate raged on. Now, new data confirms that the court speed at the 2025 Rolex Paris Masters is drastically slower than last year.

While tennis fans and media have always taken note of court speeds, the issue has become more salient over the past two months. Especially as the Rolex Paris Masters has moved to the Paris La Défense Arena (previously held at the Accor Arena in Bercy this year).

It is a drastic adjustment, which confirms Alcaraz's instant reaction after practicing on the indoor hard courts earlier this week.

Paris slowed down conditions from lighting fast last year (46.6 CPI) to level with ATP Finals in Turin that usually clocks ~ 40 CPI.

Looking at this year's CPI in Paris, looks like they went too far slowing it down - just 35.1 this year.

Conditions dont look at like in Turin... https://t.co/MGVF7ljk2Z pic.twitter.com/vBaTYDv5wJ
— Tennis Masterr (@tennismasterr) October 28, 2025

"Well, I mean, this year is totally different than last year. I think it is a huge difference, which I like it," said Alcaraz with a laugh. "You know, it's much slower than last year, but I think it's a really good speed that we can see tennis, not only serve. So you can see rallies, you can see points, you can see tennis. I think it's great."

The drastically slowed-down court speed will do little to quell the conspiracy theory that tournament organizers are trying to help Alcaraz and Sinner. Both players lost last year in Paris, and Zverev won on the lightning-fast court.

A CPI of 35.1 is closer to Indian Wells (30.9) than the Canadian Open (44.6). However, that does not account for other variables such as weather conditions and tennis ball quality.

Dijeron en París que este año iban a ralentizar las canchas, para equipararlo a lo que se iba a ver en Turín (que rondaba el 40 de CPI).

Pues bien, han bajado de un 46,6 en 2024 a un 35,1. Es decir, una bajda TREMENDA del 25%. No mucho más rápida que Shanghai, que ya fue muy… pic.twitter.com/jm9oZ1u9pp
— José Morón (@jmgmoron) October 28, 2025

Taylor Fritz recently gave tennis fans a tutorial on the challenges of judging court speed on social media. "A lot of people struggle to differentiate between slow ball / slow court. It's only something I have picked up in recent years. It's easy to play with a slow ball and just think the court is slow when maybe it's not, and vice versa."

Luckily for the sport, action is already underway, and debates over court speed will fall on the back burner. The 2025 Rolex Paris Masters runs through November 2.

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