Depleted Fields Across US Hard-Court Swing Emphasize Need For Structural Change

The notable absences from this hard court season signify a much-needed change to the ATP and WTA schedules.

Both of last year's finalists, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, were absent from the 2026 Cincinnati Open. | IMAGO / PsnewZ

Traditionally, both the Canadian Open and Cincinnati have tended to suffer from their unfortunate placing on the chronically over-congested tennis calendar.

The Challenging Schedule for Canada and Cincinnati

Despite being two of the largest events on both the ATP and WTA Tours outside of the Grand Slams, their cramped position on the schedule between Wimbledon and the US Open has often left them somewhat constricted in being able to consistently attract the strongest fields.

Granted, the seven-week window (a week longer than previous seasons) between the latter two majors of the year is not quite as dizzyingly quick a turnaround as between Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. Yet it does prove more often than not to be too short a timeframe to squeeze in back-to-back 1000-level tournaments.

This is exacerbated by two things, the first of which is largely unavoidable, but the second is utterly self-inflicted.

Firstly, a change of both continent and surface clearly do little to help these events attract a stacked draw. But this issue has been aggravated by the fact that both Cincinnati and the Canadian Open have expanded their tournaments to the now notoriously unpopular 12-day format, a move that looks increasingly misguided with each passing season.

Olympic Games years are particularly brutal, with Iga Swiatek, Carlos Alcaraz, Elena Rybakina and Novak Djokovic all absent from the 2024 National Bank Open draw. Yet, in this non-Olympic year, the draws felt as depleted as they ever have been.

Men's Tennis Feeling the Pain

This is an issue that is currently disproportionately affecting men's tennis. The extended lay-off of seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz decimated most of his hard-court swing, ruling the Spaniard out of both Montreal and Cincinnati before his return in New York. As was the case last season, neither World No. 1 Jannik Sinner nor Djokovic were present in Canada this year. While former World No. 4s Jack Draper and Holger Rune remain sidelined by shoulder and Achilles injuries respectively.

Even more painfully for the ATP, Sinner then missed both Cincinnati and the US Open due to the
knee injury that has been plaguing him since the successful defence of his Wimbledon title last month.

"After consulting my doctors and my team, I have to announce I need to withdraw from the Masters 1000 tournament,” the Italian revealed in a statement posted on the ATP website. ahead of Cincinnati last month.

Sinner's withdrawal meant that neither of the ATP's golden duo were present in Canada or Cincinnati. As well as damaging what would ideally have been a key narrative building up to the final Grand Slam of the year, it also harmed the image of two of the most, supposedly, significant tournaments of the year.

Women's Players Also Absent

The picture on the WTA is not much rosier, with last year's National Bank Open champion Victoria Mboko unable to defend her title due to an ongoing left-knee injury, one which also ruled her out of Cincinnati and the US Open. Karolina Muchova, this year's Wimbledon runner-up, was also absent from both 1000 tournaments as she continued to recover from a "minor surgery".

Emma Raducanu, Jasmine Paolini, and Hailey Baptiste were among other leading names to miss both 1000-level events, with Paolini the only of that trio to make it to New York.

Wider Concerns About the Rigours of Tennis' Tours

At the end of another long and gruelling season, perhaps this is just a case of players fraying from the rigours of another year on tour.

But with the injury pile-up as big and as high-profile as it is, to put the burden of blame purely on where we currently sit in the calendar seems misplaced. While latter-season fatigue is to be expected, there is nothing natural about depleted fields becoming some sort of late-summer norm. This is, unfortunately, part of a general trend of rising long-term injury that is plaguing the sport.

This should and will reignite well-trodden debates regarding the relentless nature of the tennis season. A conversation that is, frankly, becoming tired as it continues to fall on the deaf ears of tennis' governing bodies and tournament organisers. Meanwhile, tennis' integral asset - the players - are being taken advantage of by those aforementioned, all in the name of profit.

Options to reschedule these events are limited. Yet placing unnecessary extra burden on players in the form of extended formats, and an unduly packed and lengthy season in general, will only serve to aggravate this particularly tricky section of the calendar, where bodies are tiring towards the end of another taxing circuit, and time between tournaments is at an especially high premium.

The US hard-court swing finds itself at the forefront of discussions about depleted draws more often than most. Yet, this season, thinning fields feel more a part of ongoing and recurrent concerns about the very structure of the tennis season.

It is one that will only resurface with greater frequency and urgency, until those with the power to enact difficult decisions - for the benefit of the whole sport - also show the gumption to do so.