The 11-month-long men’s ATP Tour reaches its finale on the banks of the River Thames next week by which time the game’s leading players will almost certainly have been granted their wish for a shortened season.
Unusually, this year’s ATP World Tour finals at London’s O2 Arena will feature the genuine top eight men — all of whom have survived the rigors of their globe-trotting existence relatively fit in mind and body.
However, with Roger Federer leading calls to lessen the load on their knees and shoulders, the ATP’s decision-makers will meet in London over the coming week when they expect to agree either a two or three-week shortening of the men’s calendar.
Unlike the women’s WTA Tour that wrapped up in Doha at the end of last month, the men get precious little recovery time and world No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who will be on Davis Cup final duty with Serbia until Dec. 5, will have no more than a three-week breather before starting all over again.
It is situation that ATP president Adam Helfant made his priority to fix when he took the job last year, and he expects a revised 2012 and 2013 calendar to be announced after board meetings during the season finale.
“There is a two-week [reduction] and a three-week option on the table and in theory no reduction at all, but I would be very surprised if that’s where we ended up,” Helfant told reporters after the draw for the World Tour finals in a London gallery.
“Each of the players have their own views on what would be an ideal calendar and we are never going to have unanimity, it’s hard enough to build a consensus, but I think we will emerge from the board meetings with a consensus that balances the needs of the players and the tournaments,” Helfant said.
Andy Roddick of the US, who missed last year’s showdown in London through injury, has called for the Tour finals to follow the week after the Paris Masters, while Djokovic and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal have also called for more time off.
“Paris straight into London is an option,” Helfant said. “There have been no conversations with the players about altering their commitments, but I can’t say we’ve only spoken about the length of the season.
“There have been other things the players have spoken to us about to make it a bit more bearable. Once you open up the conversation it becomes rather far-reaching, but what we are trying to do is take a practical approach with an issue that has been around a long time and hasn’t been fixed,” he added.
Federer said recently players needed a proper off-season.
“It’s time we shifted it back,” Federer said in Paris. “Four weeks is just not enough.”
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