Seasons of Tennis
There has been so much discussion regarding the re-jiggering of the tennis tournament calendar and it seems that no solution will unfortunately leave everyone happy. What has not been discussed is the concept of breaking the year into seasons, i.e. winter, spring, summer and fall. If you think about it, the tennis calendar naturally breaks itself into seasons already although at times it seems to be competing with itself. For example, the winter season including outdoor
hard-court events in Florida, California, as well as New Zealand, Australia, India, etc. could run from January through March culminating in the Australian Open (a move to March has been floated a couple times already). The spring season which signals the shift to clay courts in the United States and Europe leading up to the French Open. The summer season could actually begin a week or two after Roland Garros (allowing for a short mid-season break) with a brief switch to grass courts prior to Wimbledon. The summer season could continue on hard courts in the U.S. as well as maybe additional clay court events in Europe all leading up to the U.S. Open at the end of the summer. The brief fall season would begin in September and run until the end of October. There could be point leaders crowned for each season including bonus points for each seasonal points leader. The top 8 finishers would play in the year-end Championships in late October. There is still the challenge of when to schedule Davis and Federation Cup matches. This is just a thought which might create a more coherent calendar which would make it easier for fans to follow the Tour across the globe throughout the year.
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