ATP looks at shortening tennis calendar 10/09/2010 |
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The ATP Tour says it will consider trimming its tennis calendar to give the players more time to rest.
Many leading players, including world No 1 Rafael Nadal, believe there are too many tournaments and that they are too close together. The circuit consists of 62 events in 32 countries and runs from January until the end of November.
The ATP wants to shorten the season “to give our players more time to take a rest, work on their general conditioning and work on their games”, Adam Helfant, executive chairman and president of the men’s tour, said at the US Open in New York.
The ATP board will decide at the end of November whether to cut the 2012 and 2013 seasons by two to three weeks, said Helfant, a former Nike vice-president who joined the tour at the beginning of 2009.
World No 3 Novak Djokovic is another who thinks the current offseason of four weeks is too short. Players ideally need two weeks of rest, plus four or five weeks to prepare for the new season, he said.
“I’ve been experiencing a lot of physical and health difficulties in last two, three years playing a very, very busy schedule,” Djokovic added. “Hopefully, it’s all going to pay off and we’re going to get a little bit shorter schedule and a schedule that is going to give us more time off.”
The circuit is “on track to equal or better” last year’s record tournament attendance of 4.4 million, Helfant said. This season, events in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome and Toronto had record numbers of spectators.
“We have great champions, led by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal,” Helfant continued. “And the depth and diversity of talent on the tour is at an all-time high. Our guys are driving more interest and more fans into the sport than ever before.”
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