Mens pro schedule changes

[FulhamFan]

I think the masters series should be done in different countries like f1 racing is.

leading up to the australian open there should be an asia/australia circuit.
aus open should be in march. indian wells and miami should be masters series in japan and korea. Asia plays more racquet sports than anywhere in the world so it makes sense.

After the ausopen it should go directly to claycourt season in europe leading up to Roland Garros.

Wimbledon should start a week later and maybe one of the master events should be on grass. If we really beleive grass in a valid surface we need way more grass court tournaments.

Then is the american hard court season leading up to the US Open.

After the US Open there should be a couple events and the Masters Cup in october. National championships should be held around the same time. The highest ranked people that aren't in the top eight down to top ranked amateurs should play in their respective countries championships. after which is an offseason.

Things I haven't thought of are south american events and the davis cup.

Masters Cup should be an event that moves from year to year.

thoughts?

[Nathaliia]

At first I would change the time of Sopot tournament (it's so stupid that no one serious will some to us this year and my holiday will be crap - I would also make KGHM Challenger an ATP event) Then I agree with you about Masters on grass. It's embarassing how far the grass surface is losing it's meaning and Spanish Armada year after year ignores Wimbledon (I mean most of them).
In my opinion Masters Final should be each year in a different country, tried not to be held anymore at that place it was last year.

[FulhamFan]

I'm actually from houston and I missed the masters cup last year so I'm kinda glad it's here for one more year. However I think that it should held indoors at the 20,000 seater basketball arena instead of outdoors at the 8,000 seater Westside Tennis Club. The basketball stadium is also in the middle of the city whereas the club is way out in the westside of the city. Which is a big deal in the biggest city in the country in land area and with no public transportation. The club is owned by the tournament promoter so I doubt that will happen. Houston is a huge tennis city which was starved for pro tennis till jim did something so were grateful for that.

[Nathaliia]

I'm sorry, I didn't know you're from Houston. I meant only some not very nice sentences by the tournament promotor. I'm not sure if he's the right person on the right place. Truly saying as long as Roddick, Hewitt or Ferrero aren't winning I absolutely don't care where Masters take place.
/ then it may turn out you're not only a Fulham Fan but also a Roddick fan / - I used to like him in first few matches I saw, but since he started being coached by Brad Gilbert he forgot how to play a backhand, how to behave on clay court, wasn't taught much about possibilities at the net and I don't like him for telling the audience "you guys were awesome" after match against Nalbandian (yeah especially that one person who shouted "out" when the ball was correct in tie break).

[FulhamFan]

pfff. are you kidding? My favorite player in the world is guga. I only care that the masters cup is in houston so I can see it in person. If they keep selling tickets for $50 to see one match in shitty seats then i'd rather see it on tv. I've played on hard courts all my life but I perfer watching the claycourters. I'm glad the only other pro event here is on RED clay. Roddick is fine for now but pros will catch up to him like phillipoussis, rusedski, krajcek and other big servers.

[Jon]

the BBC is reporting that Shanghai is now hosting the TMC from 2005 to 2007. Is this correct, has Houston lost it for 2005??

[FulhamFan]

It's true it's true. Shanghai is getting it. The biggest tennis market in the world is probably china so it makes sense. They just don't have any pros. They dominate in badminton and table tennis. Michael chang was born in taiwan and he has the build of the average asian so it's a matter of time before the chinese make they're big break.

[Lord Lannister]

Huh? Mike Chang was born in New Jersey I thought.

You are right in that China is a huge tennis market that needs pro's.

I think that is only a matter of time though. With over a billion people, huge land resources, and a rising GDP China can and will afford to continue to invest in sports while paying for players to travel (I thinik they do that with some of the women presently). Plus the Olympics and the new China Open which is going to be a big, rich field for a non-Masters.

I'd disagree saying that Chang is the 'average' Chinese build though. That country is so big and diverse that there are regions where the citizens are much much taller.

Yao Ming is from one of those regions.

[FulhamFan]

I read a bio of him recently and if it wasn't him than it was definetly his parents who are from taiwan. Chang is average in height. That doesn't mean there aren't people who are taller or shorter. Just most people are between 5'7-5'10. Yao is kind of a freak. However the average athlete is probably much taller. When I was watching the World Cup the chinese national team seem to dwarf brazil.

Enough of that though. All asian based events need to be scheduled at the beginning of the year as prelude to the australian open. It's really asking for too much to have a someone play in japan and the in europe the following week.

[CrazyDiamond]

There's not many things that the ATP does correctly....IMO.

Sure they look after the Top 100 Players pretty well,but they forgot about the thousands of other Pro Players that struggle to make a living.

[FulhamFan]

I think there also need to be way more regional challenegers and futures. Asking these players to travel around the world with the amount they get paid really isn't fair. either that or seriously raise the prize money.

In europe it isn't so bad with the european union and all the rails they have.

[Aphextriplet]

Skip the whole fall Euro indoors season and move it to outdoors in Asia. Move DC SF to summer between Wimbledon and USO. AusO will be played one week later, so you can take one of the fall TMS's to be played before Oz.

[Aphextriplet]

And they really need to restructure the challenger circuit. Now it makes no sense. Some weeks there are three $25ks, some weeks there are three $100ks, other weeks there are one challenger, other there are 8. They should stratify it more, perhaps create a super-challenger tour for the $100k+'s on an international level keeping them on a separate schedule not competing with eachother. The $25k's and $50k's should be organised regionally in a Euro tour, North- and South American tour et al. I know this has been done before but if they made a concerted effort it would fare better. Shame "they" don't seem to get along.

[Aphextriplet]

And those feed-up qualiy spots they have for some challengerwinners on the WTA tour, do they exist in the men's game? If not, why not? I think they should have them on all levels from futures to minor challengers and so on upwards. Most players on tour aim to improve so why not increase the incentives besides ranking and money?