Federer damands more consultation - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Federer damands more consultation

World number Roger Federer has demanded players have a greater say in a proposed shake-up of the tennis calendar.

Federer is concerned ATP supremo Etienne de Villiers is moving forward with plans to revise the schedule without consulting the game's leading protagonists. Those plans include cutting the number of Masters Series events from nine to eight with Monte Carlo and Hamburg the two venues set to miss out and Shanghai being added to the list.

Federer, speaking in Monte Carlo, said: "This is a scream for help. We've not been happy the past few months. A (player) meeting in Miami (last month) was a big disappointment. These decisions need to be taken more slowly, we want a say as well."

He added: "We're the ones out there on court in the tennis shorts, they're not."

The ATP are expected to reveal the 2009 calendar before the end of the month but Federer cannot understand the rush.

He said: "We need to speak with the bosses, things are going too fast.

"I've had many meetings with ET (De Villiers). He listens but then goes and does things his way - I wish he would listen more.

"We've gone from Mark Miles (De Villiers' predecessor) doing nothing to ET doing too much."

World number three Nikolay Davydenko was more forthright in his condemnation of De Villiers.

The Russian said: "ET says 'trust me'. He wants too much trust."

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