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Australian Open could move
Growing player discontent and fierce temperatures in Australia in January could force the first grand slam of the tennis season to move to March. "Melbourne comes right at the start of the season. It's a highlight that comes too soon," said ITF President Francesco Ricci-Bitti.
Players complain the Australian Open starts too soon after their brief close season in December so players are ill-prepared for one of the most important tournaments of the year.
Ricci-Bitti said the ITF was talking to the ATP, which organises the men's tour, about moving a couple of U.S. tournaments to make way for a later Australian Open. "This way the players could gradually build up to the first highlight of the season," Die Welt quoted him as saying.
Agassi, a three-times Australian Open champion, said a later start would "give us more chance to relax in what you could call the off-season and it would allow for a better build-up and for better tennis at the Open".
Players currently finish the season early in December usually indoors in northern winter then, after three weeks, race to the blazing heat of the southern summer for two weeks of warm-up tournaments before the first grand slam starts.
Last year's runner-up Marat Safin said tennis players had the shortest holidays in sport. "In every other sport...they have time to recover, vacations with their families and time to prepare themselves for the next season," the Russian, ranked third in the world, said.
Former world number one Navratilova believes the Australian Open is downright dangerous. "It could take someone dying before things will change but I firmly believe the Australian Open should be put back a month until at least February," the American three-times former champion wrote in the Australian newspaper this week.
Reuters
Australian Open could move
Growing player discontent and fierce temperatures in Australia in January could force the first grand slam of the tennis season to move to March. "Melbourne comes right at the start of the season. It's a highlight that comes too soon," said ITF President Francesco Ricci-Bitti.
Players complain the Australian Open starts too soon after their brief close season in December so players are ill-prepared for one of the most important tournaments of the year.
Ricci-Bitti said the ITF was talking to the ATP, which organises the men's tour, about moving a couple of U.S. tournaments to make way for a later Australian Open. "This way the players could gradually build up to the first highlight of the season," Die Welt quoted him as saying.
Agassi, a three-times Australian Open champion, said a later start would "give us more chance to relax in what you could call the off-season and it would allow for a better build-up and for better tennis at the Open".
Players currently finish the season early in December usually indoors in northern winter then, after three weeks, race to the blazing heat of the southern summer for two weeks of warm-up tournaments before the first grand slam starts.
Last year's runner-up Marat Safin said tennis players had the shortest holidays in sport. "In every other sport...they have time to recover, vacations with their families and time to prepare themselves for the next season," the Russian, ranked third in the world, said.
Former world number one Navratilova believes the Australian Open is downright dangerous. "It could take someone dying before things will change but I firmly believe the Australian Open should be put back a month until at least February," the American three-times former champion wrote in the Australian newspaper this week.
Reuters