Andy Murray tells tennis stars 'you don't have to play' as retired Brit wades into debate

has suggested that the new, extended two-week Masters 1000 format is worse than the former one-week product. The three-time Grand Slam champion ended his career at last year's Olympic Games, but he still travels to some tournaments on the tennis tour as Novak Djokovic's coach. And he believes the longer events are becoming unsustainable.

The two-week Masters tournaments have been a contentious talking point over the last couple of years, with plenty of players - including Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas - admitting they preferred when the premier competitions were staged over a shorter time period. Murray has now reminded current stars that they "don't have to play" if they find it too demanding.

Murray sees several disadvantages with the longer events, including fewer quality matches and less time for players to recover.

"Sometimes, before, if you played in Rome and Madrid and you were seeded, you had a bye in those events," he told .

"And so you could play your first match on Wednesday, so you could arrive on, let's say the Saturday of Madrid, know that you would have four days of practice and within 16 days, you've finished two events, whereas now there's nothing like that.

"So it's changed, I think, in that respect, and I think the other way was much better.

"The one-week events were really good. You had great quality matches every single day; you knew exactly who was going to be playing when."

Those who defend the two-week format often cite the extra rest day players get between matches, similar to a Grand Slam competition.

But Murray pointed out that the athletes still had to practice on their days off - and had to do so under the watchful eye of fans and cameras around the tournament grounds.

Players who withdrew from the top tournaments on the ATP circuit can be penalised, including having some points on their ranking taken away and being excluded from a bonus payment pool.

However, the retired Brit has already encouraged some players and coaches to make the right decisions for themselves and take the hit if needed, claiming it wasn't a "big deal".

He continued: "You also always have the choice not to play. Yes, you might get a zero point, lose a few ranking points, or not be part of a bonus pool. Players have the option not to play if they don't want to. It's not like anything really bad happens."

And the two-time Olympic champion thinks some will start taking his advice.

He added: "Players often complain and say, 'Oh, the season's very long, so when I play in Canada and Cincinnati, I'm tired when I get to the US Open'.

"Well, then, if you think it would be an advantage not to play Cincinnati and Canada, choose one of the events you don't want to play and then go into the US Open with an advantage over all of the other players.

"If that's truly what you believe, that it is better...nowadays, every tournament is just adding days, and it's like the least creative way of making them more money, I don't know, really... But also, if it wasn't making them money, I think they'd find a different way."