ATP says no events will be cut if season shortened

Oct 5, 2010, 6:05 GMT

Tokyo - No tournaments would be sacrificed if a controversial plan to shorten the ATP season by up to three weeks eventually takes shape, the head of the tennis sanctioning body promised Tuesday.

'Not one event will be scrapped in our plan to create a more meaningful off-season for our players,' said ATP head Adam Helfant on a visit to the Japan Open.

'We have circulated a draft calendar [for 2012 and 2013] to our membership but no event will be cancelled' in the efforts to shorten the season, which currently can last up to 11 months, he said.

Attempts to abbreviate the men's calendar have so far been fruitless, with players always ready to chase extra money at exhibitions and special events in November and December.

The current three-week Asian swing was preceded by an exhibition match in Macau featuring four players who played last week in the Kuala Lumpur ATP event.

Those playing this week Tokyo and Beijing, including second seed Andy Roddick and China top seed Novak Djokovic, had the chance to make some extra cash at another event in South Korea last Friday.

The scheduling changing plan is the initiative of Helfant, who took office a year ago and has kept a relatively low public profile. He said that while he has only one vote in the administrative process, he favours a ban on exhibitions during what could eventually become mandatory rest time for players.

'If we're successful we will have created an additional two or three weeks of rest at the end of the season. I'm pleased with our progress. We hope to be able to make a decision on the 2012-2013 season by the end of this year.'

The last time the organization tried to pare down the schedule was in 2008 when the Hamburg tournament was cut under protest from the Masters level of the calendar and reduced to a lower-level event and moved into July.

The case resulted in a lawsuit in US courts which the ATP won, but which is now said to be headed for the US Supreme Court on appeal, on the grounds that the changes constitute a restriction of trade.

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