The Tennis Channel

The players have been vocal about their discontent with recent changes to the calendar which they believe jeopardize their ability to remain healthy and sustain high levels of performance at every tournament.

And I am really looking forward to everyones feedback on this. Especially if someone does not want to sign. I'd be really interessted to get to know why.

So looking forward to feedback

The following article got online this week. For obvious reasons ITA with McEnroe :-)

http://www.tennisweek.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=6614448

McEnroe Blasts ATP
By Richard Pagliaro
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

He is the son of a successful New York City attorney who recalls the argumentative skills he would display for years on the ATP Tour were rooted in family debates over the dinner table. Once tennis' raging rebel armed with a Dunlop racquet and a distinctive edge for persuasive argument, John McEnroe has grown into a voice of reason — at times — for the game and is again using his voice to target what he perceives as power abuse by the ATP.

The man who made little secret of his disdain for tennis authorities during his prime has not exactly mellowed with age when it comes to his feelings for the ATP Tour leadership. McEnroe castigated the ATP as "an absolutely deplorable union...one of the worst unions I can imagine" and called on on the players to step up and seize more power in shaping the future direction of the sport.

The 49-year-old New Yorker said the core of the current anti-trust lawsuit filed by the Tennis Masters Series Hamburg against the ATP centers on control of the schedule and he urges prominent players taking a greater role in constructing the calendar.

"Well, as you may or may not be aware, there's a lawsuit, starting yesterday, with pretty much that very thing, that the very core of the issue is trying to change the schedule," McEnroe told the media in Newport Beach last night where he played doubles and mixed doubles for the New York Sportimes, who edged the Newport Beach Breakers 17-15 in overtime. "The schedule is too long. Players have to put their feet down. That's the bottom line. They have to decide these players of today, if they have the right leadership, which is obviously the ATP has been an absolutely deplorable union as far as I'm concerned, one of the worst unions I can imagine. If they had proper leadership it would go a long way towards improving our sport, I believe, to hopefully bridge the gap with the players of today and players that were around like myself and a business person that would the type the thing that would be needed for this to be taken care of in a way that would be beneficial for tennis."

A long-time critic of the ATP dating back to his playing days, McEnroe said since the season is too long, players should be able to create their own schedules without mandatory appearances and suggested the ATP, which was originally created by players as their union, has lost sight of its original mission. McEnroe charges players' power in the decision-making process has diminished dramatically over the ATP's more than three-decade history and that there is a collusive relationship between tour power brokers and some tournaments creating an "old boys network" that benefits those tournaments at the expense of the players.

"Not everyone is going to be happy when you make decisions. As far as I'm concerned, players should be allowed to play where they want," McEnroe said. "They should not be told where to play. There's too many tournaments, so why do you have to tell them to play? It's politics, is what it is. These people are in bed with these people with the ATP, these tournament guys, I'm not going to mention names, and because it's so obvious I don't need to mention the name. It's like an old boys network. Why do they get it? There's plenty of other people that are chomping at the bit, I hope. We'll see. So far in 30 years virtually nothing has changed except the players have less power than they had when I was playing, which to me makes no sense whatsoever. Players should have more power, not less power."

The man who developed his skills under the guidance of Australian Davis Cup coaching legend Harry Hopman at the Port Washington Tennis Academy has been critical of the USTA's failure to fully develop the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows — home of the U.S. Open — as a national training development center and has told Tennis Week in prior interviews that what he perceived as the USTA's lack of support in backing a McEnroe-led junior player development program was one factor that led to his resignation as U.S. Davis Cup captain after only one year on the job.

Reiterating his desire to develop junior players in New York, McEnroe has long said he hopes to help coach New York-area juniors in the future. In May, younger brother Patrick McEnroe assumed his post in the newly-created position of General Manager, USTA Elite Player Development, as part of a new strategic direction for the development of future American champions. The Hall of Famer questioned where the USTA's resources have been going for player development and suggested creating a competitive environment for elite juniors at the NTC is a good starting point to promote player development.

"Have a tennis academy at the National Tennis Center near where I grew up, have training facilities where all the kids have to play against each other similar to what we did in the old days. There's so many things that I would rather leave it at that for the moment," McEnroe said. "I don't know where all the dollars have been going. Obviously coaching is important, but you should take a look at some of the other places where it's been more successful, obviously. Just because someone was hungry and was in the middle of a war zone in Serbia doesn't mean that that's the only way to get a champion in tennis. Look at Federer and Nadal; I mean, they come from Mallorca and Switzerland. Those are two perfectly good upbringings, and they're the best players in the world, incredible players. So someone found something inside of Nadal that is remarkable. And try to get better athletes in our sport." 

ITA with McEnroe Senior, too :-)

http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/stor...-turning-point

ATP has reached a crucial turning point
by Matt Cronin
October 7, 2008

Just as its board of directors is interviewing candidates for its CEO and Chairman positions, the ATP Tour got smacked in the head with a dour possibility.

Roger Federer may not play the rest of the year.
Regardless of the tour's rules when it comes to pullouts, the super-wealthy Federer may choose to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and skip not only this week's tournament in Stockholm — where he announced the possibility of shutting down for the season — but also the required upcoming Masters Series tournaments in Madrid, Paris and the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

"(This) has been a tough year for me as I was always playing catch-up after being diagnosed with mononucleosis at the beginning of the year," Federer said. "I feel fortunate to be healthy again, but I want to remain at the top of the game for many more years to come and go after the No. 1 ranking again. In order to do that, I need to get a proper rest and get strong again so that I am 100 percent fit for the remainder of the year or next year. At this point, I am not sure when I will be ready to play again, but I hope to be back at some point before the end of the year."

Whether the great Swiss will be able to get motivated again and make it back in the next five weeks is hard to tell, but what's easy to determine is that tennis is cycling through the same problems it has always had when it comes to its stars: how to convince them to play mandatory events when they are earning so much more off-court.

Federer — who is said to have earned $35 million in 2007, only $10 million of that in prize money — contends his main goals are to break Pete Sampras' all-time Grand Slam mark of 14, lead his country to a Davis Cup title and win the French Open. While grabbing back No. 1 from Nadal would surely be satisfactory, it's not going to happen this year as the Spaniard would have to fall completely on his face and not reach another quarterfinal and Federer would have to win every tournament he enters.

By the end of the Madrid tournament, which begins next week, Nadal will likely be holding up the year-end No. 1 award. It would just about cap off a tumultuous year for the tour, which saw its top players revolt against their own player representatives, throwing them off the board and pushing out tour CEO and Chairman, Etienne de Villiers. De Villiers has handed in his resignation, which goes into effect at year's end.

Tour spokesmen are confident that in 2009, when it rolls outs a new calendar replete with big money events, it will flourish behind a corps of players the administration believes have bought into the new schedule and its requirements.

They had better, or all will be lost. The tour has asked its highest level tournaments to put up increased money in order to guarantee that the top players will show up. if the players balk at the structure — and Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and James Blake did voice opposition at times this year — then the ATP will be hard pressed to ask the tournaments to keep upping their prize money and making further investments in their facilities. Fans want to see the stars and the tournaments want to be able to guarantee them, but if the players don't buy in, it's a fragile house of cards.

This week alone, there are three sizeable tournaments going on — Stockholm, Moscow and Vienna — which sport combined prize money of $2.4 million. Guess how many of the aforementioned six notables are competing there. Zero.

But at this point, it looks like most of the players, three of whom (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) are now on the ATP Players Council, are willing to give next year's structure a try, which will include mandatory appearances at the four Grand Slams, eight Masters Series tournaments (which will be re-named 1000 Series) and the year-end Masters Cup.

But that does mean that there won't be any tweaking, as all the top players have said that they want a new CEO and Chairman who will listen to their concerns and act on them. If that means dropping a couple so-called "hard designated tournaments" the new hire(s) might be forced to do more than fiddle, unless he or she wants to end up with the same fate as de Villiers.

There are said to be at least 10 candidates for de Villiers' two positions (the tour is likely to split them up this time rather than have just one man hold them). There are familiar names like Miami tournament director Butch Buchholz, a former player, and former Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee, who also played on tour, and a couple of current ATP executives.

McNamee is more than familiar with another candidate, who has yet to be interviewed by the board — John McEnroe Sr., whose son, John Jr., had a 4-1 record against McNamee.

A lawyer by trade, McEnroe Sr. has been publicly campaigning for the job and has already talked to a few of the top players and their agents about his candidacy. He also sent a letter to all the players discussing his opposition to the current way of doing business. And he has the experience. Back in 1980, he met the head of the then Men's International Professional Tennis Council (the predecessor to the ATP), as the representative of the 'Quintessential Quintet:' Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis, John McEnroe Jr. and Guillermo Vilas — the top five attractions at the time.

"They wanted to hard designate tournaments, too, and were concerned that the top ones wouldn't play them," McEnroe Sr. recalled. "We had a meeting and told them, 'You may call them hard designations, but we are not buying that. What we are prepared to do is that the players will agree among themselves what they will play and we'll spread them across the spectrum. All the top tournaments will get a representative grouping of top players, but you will not select them. The players will assign themselves to particular tournaments. They accepted it. We said, 'We don't care if you call them hard designated or not, but you know and we know that you are not hard designating anything, that we are the ones making the selections."

That 1980s formula cannot be taken entirely out of the equation, because the reality of the tour over the past decade is that many stars have opted out of Masters Series tournaments that were hard designated, but they preferred not to play. They ate the fines and the loss of ranking points.

Even though both Federer and Nadal have been stand-up guys for the most part when it comes to fulfilling their obligations, if fans want a clear picture of how seriously some top men take mandated events, take a look at the Monte Carlo or TMS Paris draws since the beginning of the century. Many top men chose not to play them, rules and fines be damned.

"The rules as they exist now are terrible for the players," McEnroe Sr. said. "De Villiers lost support of the players and tournaments. He was making rules that the players didn't like and he should have never done that. The tour is a car. The engine is the players, the tournaments are the body, and wheels are the sponsors and TV. Without all of them working in concert, the car won't work. But without the engine, the car won't move."

McEnroe says that he's not interested in blowing the system up, but will listen to what the players want before deciding how many mandated tournaments should be on the books. A CEO with such pro-player sympathies such as McEnroe Sr. may not thrill the tournaments, which according to the tour, will invest $800 million into facilities in the coming years and a record $100 million in 2009 financial commitments.

In fact, Charlie Pasarell, the influential co-owner of the tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., who has held a board position since the ATP's inception in 1990, just quit his board spot because he was frustrated with the players pushing out De Villiers. Gavin Forbes, a top tennis executive at IMG, who remarkably once led an effort to sell the Indian Wells tournament to China, might take his spot as America's tournament representative.

ATP spokesman Kris Dent believes the tour is back on its axis, but it still seems to be looking for its footing. Intelligent and forward-looking players such as Federer might hold the key to its success, but only if he's thinking not just of himself, but of the long-term health of the sport.

"The players should select themselves where they have to go," McEnroe Sr. said. "If they say that everyone goes to every 1000 series, that fine, but I think it's too much and it's the cause of their physical problems. Of course the tournaments put up big money and should be supported. But forget all (that) — the rules are only written for the top five or top 10 and they try to make them play as much as they can without regard to their mental or physical well being. It hurts them long term because they are playing more than they should." 

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The petition is still up and running. If you want to support ATP players, you can still go and sign it here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/tennis08/petition.html

You are welcome, JorgeLobo, and thanx for the feedback.

Today I have some more news. Because I went through the ATP calendars for the next three years. If you want to check the calendars yourself go to ATP site: 
http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/tournaments/fullcalendar/

Looking closely at the calendars for the next three years made me so angry that I wrote an angry open letter to the ATP which is now online on sportingo.com

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 http://www.sportingo.com/tennis/a10612_why-new-atp-tour-calendar-disgrace-tennis

Dear ATP officials,

This is an angry open letter to you. I am angry because of the tour calendars for 2009, 2010 and 2010. In your press release (August 28, 2008) you claim that the new tour calendar introduces and “ensures a healthier schedule for players, with less travel across continents and less congested sections of the season".

However, one look at the new calendar shows the season is as long as ever, starting with the first Grand Slam in January and ending with ATP Tour finals (and DC finals) late in November. There will be a lot of back-to-back events. In 2008 the Olympic Games were said to be the reason for moving dates of tournaments and having so many back-to-back events. In 2009-2011 there will be no Olympics, so why all the back-to-back tournaments?

Plus, the Masters 1000 Paris will be back to back with ATP Tour finals in 2010 and 2011. All this contradicts your press release saying that there will be less congested sections of the season. Additionally, from 2009 on players will be forced to go to Asia in fall to attend the new Masters 1000 Shanghai. Again, this contradicts your press release saying that there will be less travel across continents.

I am sick and tired of the PR hooey that you try to sell to the public. Etienne de Villiers, the executive chairman of the ATP Tour, will be leaving at the end of the year. But that is no solace because the damage to the calendars has been done.

I am also angry because you claim in the same press release that the “ATP will next season introduce a new brand look and identity based on extensive consumer research designed to make the tour more fan friendly. The changes, the largest since the tour’s inception in 1990, follow more than two years of analysis, consultation and extensive consumer research of more than 20,000 fans globally”.

I really would like to see this consumer research. Actually I will only believe that there has been such research when I see it. I find it funny that tennis fans themselves express a very different opinion about how the tour should be run, contradicting your so-called consumer research.

In a poll on FOXSports.com, tennis fans were asked whether the ATP should require players to compete in their tournaments. Of more than 1,800 votes, a huge 70 per cent said no, it should be left up to the players whether they take part or not.

Also, more than 2,900 fans signed an online petition to support ATP players' demand for more influence in ATP decisions and changes to the ATP tour and calendar. I started the petition and I informed you of it by sending letters to ATP executive offices in London three times. And three times I got no answer. I have the funny feeling that you ignore fans when we do not hold the opinion that best fits into your business plan.

I do not believe that you want to make the tour more fan-friendly. And I do not believe a single word about "extensive consumer research" that you claim to have done. You just say so to shut up critics. As I see it you have made a big mess out of the coming tour calendars. I want you to own up to it and not to hide behind sayings like “fans want it that way”. Do you dare to publish your “research” so we can all check whether it fulfils standards and stands review and tests?

Begging your pardon, but I feel very strongly that only blind greed is behind the changes introduced to the ATP Tour and calendar. You do not care one bit about fans and you care even less about the health of the players and tennis as a sport.

Do not get me wrong, I know that pro tennis is big business and I am fine with people wanting to make money from it - as long as this is not done at the cost of players’ health and doesn't interfere with the sport as happened this year with a lot of players having to withdraw or retire because of exhaustion or injury, with the tournament in Rome being hit the hardest. And as also happened at the US Open, where semi-final matches were scheduled by the TV broadcaster who did not want the games to start simultaneously in order to make more money from it – regardless of the very bad weather forecast.

We all could watch in horror the resulting unfair mess (I do hope they lost a good sum of money from it). I would love to stand corrected in all the points that I have been listing here - and I would love to read what “20,000 fans globally” have been asked and what they answered.

I'm very much looking forward to your answer explaining exactly why and where I am wrong, and what exactly is so very fan-friendly about the new tour and exactly how the new calendars “ensure a healthier schedule for players, with less travel across continents and less congested sections of the season".

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I love tennis very much and I am so sick and tired of the way ATP tour is run and how ATP officials lie to the fans.