17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer has indicated that he will support the ATP and their ambitions to makes changes to the men’s tour in the future.
Federer’s vocal support came shortly after his straight sets win over America’s Noah Rubin in the second round at the Australian Open. Conducting his routine media commitments, the 35-year-old was asked if there should be any changes made in tennis. A diplomatic Federer refrained from going into the fine details, but has expressed his reservations about the current scheduling of tournaments.
“I think the calendar overall from January to November, do we have the best calendar possible? I’m not sure about that.” Said Federer.
“We know how difficult and complex it is to change tournaments around. Everybody’s sort of unhappy, but everybody’s really happy. You take it away, they’re not going to be happy. You give something, somebody else won’t be happy.”
This year features 48 tournaments played between January – November on the ATP World Tour. Out of the 48, nine are categorised as Masters 1000 events, 13 are ATP 500 and 40 are ATP 250. The six other events are Grand slam tournaments and the ATP Finals (both Next Generation and world tour).
“It is what it is at the moment.” The Swiss player said about the schedule. “I think there are probably going to be changes coming in ’19.”
“The New Brave World [sic] is over. I think we’re going to have interesting years ahead where there’s going to be changes on the ATP Tour.”
There is yet to be any confirmation from the ATP regarding their future intentions. Potential plans include the introduction of a new “Super Masters” event, which will enhance the calibre of certain Masters 1000 tournaments. Meanwhile, a group of four other events, including the Swiss Open, has submitted plans for an ATP 750 category.
Federer also spoke about the current structure of the grand slam matches. Earlier this week, Ivo Karlovic edged past Horacio Zeballos 22-20 in the final set during a match that lasted over five hours. The Battle was one praised by the Swiss player, who pointed out the positives and negatives of those marathon matches.
“I like the long set format . I don’t know what it is about it. I just find it intriguing. People are watching it now in the locker room. Everybody’s watching it. They like to see what’s happening.” He said.
“When they showed the match yesterday on TV, I was excited to see. It feels like a shootout. There’s no rallies. I like to see what happens there.”
“The problem with these kind of matches is it destroys your tournament after that usually because you just put so much mental effort into it.”
Open to a potential change in the scoring format one day, the former world No.1 is unsure about a solution to those problems.
“I don’t know if you can find a compromise. Maybe 6-All is a bit early to have a breaker. Maybe you can do 12-All. I’m fine with the way it is. If they change it, they change it.” Federer explained.
Federer will play Tomas Berdych in the third round at Melbourne.
