Federer Shows Door To Calendar Critics

Roger Federer has simple message for players criticizing the ATP calendar.Manage your schedule wisely or use the door and walk away.Serena: Black Women Put At Bottom of Totem PoleThe 20-time Grand Slam champion said players, including Alexander Zverev, griping about the grind of the long season need to take charge of their own calendar.Asked his views on potentially shortening the ATP season, Federer said more tournaments represent more jobs for players on tour who want to play.“Not those 20 tournaments; not the 200 or 1000 players on tour [want a shorter season],” Federer told the media at the ATP Finals in London. “That’s one option. The other option is as a team, player and team, to decide which are your priorities and how much can a body take, how much can a mind take, how much travel can someone endure.“The good thing is we as players are not employed by a club. I can walk right now out of the door and go onto vacation if I want to,” he said. “Nobody is going to stop me. They won’t like it, but I can. That’s a massive privilege, I believe, that a tennis player has.”

In the aftermath of his legthargic, 6-4, 6-1, loss to Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday, Zverev blasted the 11-month season as “ridiculous.”“The issue is that our season is way too long,” Zverev told reporters in London. “That’s the issue. But I’ve said it before. We play for 11 months a year. That’s ridiculous. No other professional sport does that.”The 37-year-old Swiss frequently takes a break from the pro circuit immediately after the Australian Open. Federer has not played Roland Garros since 2015 and has benefited from that break during clay-season, winning Wimbledon in 2017.Of course, most players cannot afford to take a mid-season break. Federer said a sustained break would give players time to sharpen their skills but says the current structure of the pro circuit gives players plenty of options.“There’s two ways to look at it. One, it’s nice that there’s so many tournaments,” Federer said. “When you get injured, not like skiing, you’re going to miss the entire season.“The other way, it would be amazing to have five months to work on your game. You could really maximize the player you are, the potential you have…“Both are positive and negative. But the way the tour is structured right now, I just think you have to be very disciplined within the team to decide what’s best for that player, and the player needs to also give his opinion. It’s a tricky one, but a good one because we have a lot of highlights in tennis that we really can’t complain.”Photo credit: Rolex Shanghai Masters]]>