Free from the constraints of active competition, Rafael Nadal is taking aim at the modern tennis calendar and calling for radical structural reform.
The former World No. 1, who called time on his career in 2024, believes the current 52-week rolling ranking system places undue pressure on players to compete through injury.
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Instead, he is advocating for a two-year rolling window, a change he argues would grant athletes better schedule flexibility and adequate recovery time.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Nadal also described the ATP’s move to expand seven Masters 1000 events into 12-day marathons as a “mistake,” pointing out that the relentless schedule combined with hard-court dominance takes a massive physical toll.
“It was difficult for me to fight for that when I was on the tour,” Nadal admitted regarding the dominance of hard courts.
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“But now I can say: I don’t see a lot of professional sports playing on that kind of surfaces. That’s the truth.”
“In tennis, we’re playing most of the time on a surface that is very aggressive for the body and the joints,” he added. “And then we pay the price.”
