[Looner]

Yeah but to me most of the top players will skip the Asian swing if this is done. The smaller tournaments in Asia have to build up to the AO and not to represent an afterthought. That way there'll be a proper Asian swing. That's what I think at least and what I'd like to see.

[misty1]

that is the tricky thing. I think one of the reasons the asian events can be so good is because they are held when they are. if you put the smaller asian tournaments on the calendar after the australian open i question how good those entry lists would be. If you put them on and try and hold them before the australian open you'd have to move the australian open back by at least 2 weeks

[tippy4]

Originally Posted by AnnaK_4ever

I'm aware of that. But Tokyo has plenty of indoor facilities, so does Shanghai (they held YEC there). And KL and Bangkok are already indoor events.

Bit of a difference between an eight man field and a 64 man field.
Tennis is not popular enough to warrant building a roof or two over other courts to accomodate a masters 1000 event.
Currently, they're lucky to get a couple of hundred spectators in the warmer climes; hate to see how many will show up in cold weather.

[Pirata.]

Originally Posted by AnnaK_4ever

I wonder if it's possible to build the Asian circuit around Australian Open? With Chennai/Auckland/Sydney/Brisbane preceding the AO, KL/Bangkok following it, and Tokyo & Shanghai rounding it out.

Too logical for the ATP.

[coolfish1103]

So it's technically not a shorter season, just shorter for the Top players.

[Action Jackson]

Fuck up the South American events, there are reasons they struggled big time at the end of the year, hence the move to February actually saved these events.

Lets see what actually happens.

[sexybeast]

They really want to fuck up indoor tennis, dont they? Just because a couple of top players feel the season is too long.
¨

[Horatio Caine]

It is tough (and frankly impossible) to please all parties.

The WTF should cap off the season - but I'm not against the season being December - September/October.

The ATP needs to concentrate on a better structure for its Slam events, with a primary mini-tour of 3-6 weeks leading into each. Each mini-tour would have a mandatory Masters 1000 event, and at least one '500 event.'

Once it has agreed on that, it can then decide on possible secondary-tours (e.g. South American clay swing, IW and Miami etc), dates, and a time for the off-season.

Personally, I think that the biggest change should be to have the Asia swing culminate in the Australian Open - as some posters have proposed.

This could result in the following skeleton tour:

Monday 16th December 2013 - Sunday 2nd February: Asia/Oceania Tour, culminating in the Australian Open.
Monday 14th April - Sunday 8th June: European clay court swing, culminating in the French Open.
Monday 9th June - Sunday 13th July: Grass court swing, culminating in Wimbledon.
Monday 14th July - Sunday 31st August: US summer hard court swing, culminating in the US Open.


The ATP would then have two options as to when it could schedule an extended off-season. Either within the slots February-mid-April or September-mid-December. Davis Cup might also fit better into the scheduling.

I also like the idea of a Slam event (either Australian Open or US Open) closing the regular season. The ATP would then have the flexibility to schedule WTF either for February or September, depending on when it would schedule the off-season for.

[Action Jackson]

The Aussie Open isn't moving, that will dictate what happens for the rest of the season. Don't have it in January it kills the event as for ending the season earlier well for that to happen, sadly something has to suffer but the end of season championships should be just that.

[Burrow]

Originally Posted by TBkeeper

Oh my ..... 2009 the death of Carpet 2014 after 5 years the death of Indoor tennis

Which ATP tournament was carpet in 2009?

[philosophicalarf]

Originally Posted by Burrow

Which ATP tournament was carpet in 2009?

Guess he means 08.

Carpet was killed off in the late 90s anyway, it was just on life-support after that, circling the drain. 1997 there were 17 carpet events, three years later there were only 6. 2006 there were still 6, 2008 just Lyon, then 0.

[Mr.Michael]

Was carpet officially "retired", or did they just stop using it?

I'd love to see some maverick taking WTF over and introducing those old Supreme carpets from the Grand Slam Cup over there.

[duong]

I can't believe that we have a plan by the ATP for 2014, which means very near from now, and which also means they are well advanced in their reflection, and it fits completely what Nadal and other top-guys have proposed for long

... and people on MTF are still proposing their own plans

Well now that's serious for me.

I can't speak about the SouthAmerican season as it's a complicated topic, they weren't happy of the current situation anyway and thought of many changes, including switching to hardcourts.

But as for European indoor season my opinion is that this change would be good for Paris-Bercy tournament and even would save it, as it clearly was in huge danger with the top-players' demands (this year Bercy's situation will be dramatic the week before the WTF and two weeks before the Davis cup final)

... but it would be a massive challenge for the other tournaments of the European indoor season, both in october and february. I guess Krajicek taking part in the "Competition committee" they just talked about wants to protect Rotterdam

Another thought : they want to shorten the schedule but still putting as many tournaments within. In the end it makes an absurdly dense schedule (like this year's end of year again with Basel-Paris-WTF-Davis cup final).

[Action Jackson]

Originally Posted by duong

I can't speak about the SouthAmerican season as it's a complicated topic, they weren't happy of the current situation anyway and thought of many changes, including switching to hardcourts..

No, the only reason some from Buenos Aires wanted to change from hardcourt was to get del Potro to play and nothing else. They have excellent crowds at the event & since 2003 have had very good entry lists, barring the round robin farce.

[nobama]

AJ is right, AO will never move its position in the calendar. So you'd have to start the season in Asia in December to make an Asian swing before AO possible. Fat chance of that happening. Besides climate issues how many players would sign on to starting the season in December? My guess is not many.