{"id":89226,"date":"2025-08-23T10:57:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T14:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=89226"},"modified":"2025-08-23T10:57:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T14:57:17","slug":"novak-djokovic-calls-out-masters-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/08\/23\/novak-djokovic-calls-out-masters-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic Calls Out Players Over Masters Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In New York, aiming for an Open Era record-tying fifth US Open title, Novak Djokovic once again voiced his opinion to the press<\/a> on one of tennis’s most controversial topics: the Masters 1000 format.<\/p>\n

The great Serbian, who holds the all-time record with 40 Masters titles, has made it clear that his focus is on the Slams, and he doesn\u2019t want to participate in two-week Masters events. At 38, Djokovic stated he is skipping Masters tournaments to concentrate his energy on the four biggest prizes in the sport.<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s resistance to the expanded Masters format is nothing new. He hasn\u2019t won one of the extended tournaments since Miami in 2016, more than nine years ago. For him, the expansion into near two-week competitions has only made an already demanding calendar even harsher.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange won\u2019t happen,\u201d Djokovic admitted, \u201cunless all the Masters events come together and the ATP board on the tournament side is supportive of the idea of going back, which I really doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also revealed that the contracts for these events are firm, reportedly locked in for decades, making any reversal nearly impossible.\u00a0What frustrates Djokovic even more is the lack of action from his fellow players when it mattered most. While he says many top names now openly oppose the expansion, he argues their voices were missing during the critical negotiation stages years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have noticed that a lot of top players have been quite opposed to the new change of the almost two-week events,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI support the players. But at the end of the day, when the players needed to be active and when there was a time of negotiations and decision-making, players weren\u2019t participating enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Djokovic, this is part of a larger pattern: stars speaking out once changes are already in place, but failing to engage in the often tedious and time-consuming meetings required to influence outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an ongoing story of the players, particularly top players,\u201d he added. \u201cThey express their feelings, but then when you really need to put in the time and the energy into conversations and meetings, they\u2019re not always there. I know it\u2019s difficult, I\u2019ve been there many times, but it\u2019s necessary because you\u2019re doing something not only for yourself, but also for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Djokovic begins his quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam singles title at Flushing Meadows, his criticism highlights the widening gap between the ATP\u2019s commercial interests and the physical toll on its stars. And while he will continue to prioritize the Slams, the Masters debate is unlikely to fade anytime soon, even if, as Djokovic himself concedes, nothing is likely to change in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In New York, aiming for an Open Era record-tying fifth US Open title, Novak Djokovic once again voiced his opinion to the press on one of tennis’s most controversial topics: the Masters 1000 format. The great Serbian, who holds the all-time record with 40 Masters titles, has made it clear that his focus is on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5608,"featured_media":83965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,9],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-89226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-atp","category-news","tag-novak-djokovic"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5608"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89235,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89226\/revisions\/89235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}