Who agrees that AO should be moved to February?

tacou

G.O.A.T.
I dunno i think it makes the beginning of the season exciting. I don't see the benefits really.
 

FiveO

Hall of Fame
Not really fair to the event. The event marks the end of summer break and Aussie public schools are back in session end of January/beginning of February each year.

5
 

FiveO

Hall of Fame
If Fed and Rafa are offering that opinion in the interest of shortening the season, I think that should be done at the end of the year. Eliminate most everything after the US Open, have the YEC and DC finals done by October .

5
 

FiveO

Hall of Fame
After reading the article, disregard my last post. Stupid idea when you realize what he's saying. He wants the opportunity to PLAY MORE before the AO starts.

It's one of the AO's unique demands, along with what can be convection oven type weather.

In light of the stated "reason", I feel more strongly that the event should stay where it is, for the sake of the Aussie public who pays the cash to put their fannies in those seats.

Players have gotten ready for this event the best they could for years.

The players should deal with it.

5
 

veritech

Hall of Fame
it's been like this for ages, so i don't see why the sudden complaints. the AO should stick to how it is.
 

Ronny

Hall of Fame
it should stay, coz the aus schools start at the end of jan. start of feb...then there would be no ball boys and less ppl would go and watch
 

AndrewD

Legend
Come on America, don't be so bloody stupid.

Do you think the US Open should change its position on the calender? Of course you don't - and why is that? Because it falls neatly during the American summer just before the kids have to go back to school and would be unable to attend. The Australian Open is played in its current time slot for exactly the same reason. That is, during OUR summer holidays and before OUR kids go back to school.

Regardless, it isn't a case that the players SHOULD deal with it. It's a case of the players WILL deal with it.

That Federer has even suggested it makes me lose quite a lot of respect for him and if this is the level of intelligence we can expect from a new member of the ATP board then the game is in more trouble than we thought. Proposing a way of lining your already full pockets at the expense of the game itself is nothing short of disgusting.
 

Ronny

Hall of Fame
Do you think the US Open should change its position on the calender? Of course you don't - and why is that? Because it falls neatly during the American summer just before the kids have to go back to school and would be unable to attend. The Australian Open is played in its current time slot for exactly the same reason. That is, during OUR summer holidays and before OUR kids go back to school.

Regardless, it isn't a case that the players SHOULD deal with it. It's a case of the players WILL deal with it.

That Federer has even suggested it makes me lose quite a lot of respect for him and if this is the level of intelligence we can expect from a new member of the ATP board then the game is in more trouble than we thought. Proposing a way of lining your already full pockets at the expense of the game itself is nothing short of disgusting.

Good post. Bloody hell, why is this even being suggested?
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
Do you think the US Open should change its position on the calender? Of course you don't - and why is that? Because it falls neatly during the American summer just before the kids have to go back to school and would be unable to attend. The Australian Open is played in its current time slot for exactly the same reason. That is, during OUR summer holidays and before OUR kids go back to school.

Regardless, it isn't a case that the players SHOULD deal with it. It's a case of the players WILL deal with it.

That Federer has even suggested it makes me lose quite a lot of respect for him and if this is the level of intelligence we can expect from a new member of the ATP board then the game is in more trouble than we thought. Proposing a way of lining your already full pockets at the expense of the game itself is nothing short of disgusting.
Maybe you're overreacting a little? First, the second week of the USO takes place during school, so only part of it is during summer vacation and I suspect the choice of dates has to do with other big sport events in the US not the kids' vacation system. I think the idea of moving the AO forward is to give the players time to play more tournaments before the slam (in order to be less rusty). I understand you're against it but no need to trash Fed over the suggestion, it's not that "evil"!
 

TheMusicLover

G.O.A.T.
Now that Nadal also agrees I wonder if Veroniquem and Nadal_Freak will say that he is also arrogant....or would Federer's comments have suddenly become true and not reek of arrogance :confused: :p

Of course, anything Fed says is a token of 'arrogance', no? :rolleyes:
Even if he says anything in agreement with Rafa, they are sure to twist it some other way to make him look bad... :?
 

Fee

Legend
I've been told the Aussie weather is hotter in February, so moving it is not good in that aspect.

Yes, it's also bad because the kids will be going back to school, but RG is held during the school year and it's not affected. Not sure about Wimbledon, I think that starts right about the time school ends in England, but there may be a week of overlap.

The main reason to move the AO is the eventual possibility that there could be a Masters before it, and to allow three weeks of lead up tournaments so that the Gulf States events don't compete with the Aussie/New Zealand tournaments for players.

Fed, Nadal and the others can spout off all they want, the Slams are the richest events on the calendar and they pretty much call the shots. They are also not really governed by the ATP, so they don't really pay attention to these comments.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
I've been told the Aussie weather is hotter in February, so moving it is not good in that aspect.

Yes, it's also bad because the kids will be going back to school, but RG is held during the school year and it's not affected. Not sure about Wimbledon, I think that starts right about the time school ends in England, but there may be a week of overlap.

The main reason to move the AO is the eventual possibility that there could be a Masters before it, and to allow three weeks of lead up tournaments so that the Gulf States events don't compete with the Aussie/New Zealand tournaments for players.

Fed, Nadal and the others can spout off all they want, the Slams are the richest events on the calendar and they pretty much call the shots. They are also not really governed by the ATP, so they don't really pay attention to these comments.
I've thought about that before. It would be nice to have a master before each slam (that would include AO and Wimbledon)
 

seffina

G.O.A.T.
well does anybody think the USO should be moved to mid/late September?

I guess you could do that, but even less people will watch. Even now, it's silly that the start of the NFL season and the USO Finals are on the same weekend. If anything, it would be better if it was a week earlier.

I don't think we should move any of the slams. They're just fine. There is history there, let's keep some things the same.

I understand Rafa's and Fed's reasoning, but I enjoy the ... craziness of the AO. I like seeing the draws falling apart. :)
 
After reading the article, disregard my last post. Stupid idea when you realize what he's saying. He wants the opportunity to PLAY MORE before the AO starts.

It's one of the AO's unique demands, along with what can be convection oven type weather.

In light of the stated "reason", I feel more strongly that the event should stay where it is, for the sake of the Aussie public who pays the cash to put their fannies in those seats.

Players have gotten ready for this event the best they could for years.

The players should deal with it.

5

Is it really a "unique demand" for guys to only get 2 or 3 wks of match play before a GS at the start of the season? And get hurt bc of lack of match play? I'm not buying that. It should be moved back, just so its closer to the other 3 GS's, instead of having a 5 month gap between GS's.

I'm not buying the Australian summer argument either, the USO isn't played during the middle of the summer, its at the end, so why not move the Aussie and the start of the season back a couple of wks.
 

autumn_leaf

Hall of Fame
as a college student in the US it starts pretty much the week i go back to school. but i still think it should be played in Jan. cause it gives me something to watch at a decent time slot. lol.
 

FiveO

Hall of Fame
Is it really a "unique demand" for guys to only get 2 or 3 wks of match play before a GS at the start of the season? And get hurt bc of lack of match play? I'm not buying that. It should be moved back, just so its closer to the other 3 GS's, instead of having a 5 month gap between GS's.

I'm not buying the Australian summer argument either, the USO isn't played during the middle of the summer, its at the end, so why not move the Aussie and the start of the season back a couple of wks.

Yeah, that's unique to the Majors.

You're talking about this topic as if the AO changed it's place in the calendar this year. They've been playing it the last two weeks of January for now, 23 years.

Hurt? Where's the evidence to support that thought?

And most of the injuries that occurred there in the past were due to the former surface there which would transform to a veritable "gummy bear" consistency in the heat.

BOTH the AO and the USO are played at the end of each hemisphere's summer.

IF ANYTHING starting the USO a week sooner would makes sense, and like John McEnroe advocates playing the men's final on Labor Day Monday, affording the men the same day of rest between matches they had in the first six rounds.

Oh and from the end of the AO til the beginning of RG is less than four months now. Where are you going to play the added warm-up events? Two months in Australia? What part of the season are you going to eliminate after the AO? Indoors and the S. American clay court swing? The hard court MS? Straight to Euro clay?

It's been this way for 23 years, without complaints.

5
 
Yeah, that's unique to the Majors.

You're talking about this topic as if the AO changed it's place in the calendar this year. They've been playing it the last two weeks of January for now, 23 years.

Hurt? Where's the evidence to support that thought?

And most of the injuries that occurred there in the past were due to the former surface there which would transform to a veritable "gummy bear" consistency in the heat.

BOTH the AO and the USO are played at the end of each hemisphere's summer.

IF ANYTHING starting the USO a week sooner would makes sense, and like John McEnroe advocates playing the men's final on Labor Day Monday, affording the men the same day of rest between matches they had in the first six rounds.

Oh and from the end of the AO til the beginning of RG is less than four months now. Where are you going to play the added warm-up events? Two months in Australia? What part of the season are you going to eliminate after the AO? Indoors and the S. American clay court swing? The hard court MS? Straight to Euro clay?

It's been this way for 23 years, without complaints.

5

That doesn't mean that there isn't room for change. It's the people with attitudes like yours that stop change from ever being considered in tennis, to help the game grow.

I was just suggesting what several of the pros have suggested, that the season needs to be shortened one way or another. Whether it should end sooner or start later is to be debated.

I just think that there's no reason for the season to end in late october and already restart 1st week of January. I'd move the tourney back a couple of weeks, maybe add another week of warm up tourneys, and yes, i'd shorten the clay court season.
 
D

Deleted member 25923

Guest
IMO, a better move is to move RG back a week or two, cut down a tournament or two on clay, use that new time after RG for a grass court swing that continues 1-2 weeks after Wimbledon (make it a masters series), cut down a bit on the USO series (or just make it the same week as Indianopolis), then have your USO series, then a good carpet/indoor stretch (why did they have to get rid of carpet?) at the end, possibly giving an earlier end.
 
D

Deleted member 25923

Guest
Also, does the Aussie summer end February? When do the kids go back? I always thought it was Dec., Jan., Feb.


And yes, moving the USO earlier would allow for cutting down at the end of the year.
 

ESP#1

Professional
I used to think that it should be moved but after watching the event last year it was obvious that the aussies know what they are doing. I say keep it where it is, it seems like a great event filled with festivities and getting better every year
 

FiveO

Hall of Fame
Funny, Agassi, the most dominant AO winner ever, never complained about getting his rhythm or needing more time to work out the kinks in his game. He merely went down there and hit the ground running and beat everyone. Sampras being on the other end of it twice didn't lament the timing. Neither did multiple winners there, Edberg or Courier.

Your change for the sake of change thinking is similar to that which lead to the TMC final going best of three, the all around slowing of playing conditions, almost eliminating doubles completely, and ultimately changing the playing format, just great.

Regardless, how is moving the tourney into the public school year going to help "the game grow", pray tell? How is attendance going to be during the day sessions? Do you think families would plan vacations for when their kids are in school? Some real forward thinking there.

5
 
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D

Deleted member 25923

Guest
I used to think that it should be moved but after watching the event last year it was obvious that the aussies know what they are doing. I say keep it where it is, it seems like a great event filled with festivities and getting better every year

AO is not the problem. The problem is we have 3 clay masters in a row, 3 weeks of grass (2 of which are Wimbledon) and what, 4 weeks of hard courts (2 masters in a row).

Bring RG up, that way Wimbledon sticks with it's tradition and weather, etc. Do smaller grass events one week after RG, then make Queens a Master series 1000 (what a mouthful), go to Wimbledon. Or bring Queens up to that earlier week as an MS tourny, and have a one week break before wimbledon. Have some more smaller grass tourneys after wimbledon (these can be an MS 1000 to encourage more grass court play and Queens can stay as a regular tourney)

The other method is to move Wimbledon back, demote Toronto to a regular tourney, Queens becomes an MS 1000 tourney.
 
Message to the Middle east....DEAL WITH IT.

On this particular point, disagree with roger and rafa.

For those of us living here in SH, that like opening a thread called:

"Move the US open two weeks earlier! then two weeks off the calender!" for
Americans or "Move Roland Garros two weeks earlier and have longer grass season" for the French.

Roger's statements are contradictory on this issue....The Middle east tornaments are suddenly more important than the slams? then he wonders why melburnians are perplexed?

Melbourne in january is here to stay, and if players need 1000 games to be
"ready" then that's their pathetic ability speaking right there.

My 10 cents...and sick of "changes to the calender" threads.
 

fps

Legend
After reading the article, disregard my last post. Stupid idea when you realize what he's saying. He wants the opportunity to PLAY MORE before the AO starts.

It's one of the AO's unique demands, along with what can be convection oven type weather.

In light of the stated "reason", I feel more strongly that the event should stay where it is, for the sake of the Aussie public who pays the cash to put their fannies in those seats.

Players have gotten ready for this event the best they could for years.

The players should deal with it.

5

This.

The AO lacks prestige for historical reasons, but one thing it serves up is a great deal of excitement because it is the first slam of the season (put it too late and the season starts with a whimper of little tournies) and players are NOT yet match-hardened for the season. It is a different challenge to the other slams, as it should be, and always produces surprises.

Fed and Nadal's proposal would make it more predictable. I don't want that. With Wimbledon moving so far into slow HC territory, it's good the kind of distinctiveness that comes from a slam being played so early in the season.

Oh, and it suits the Aussies. End of!!
 

fps

Legend
On this particular point, disagree with roger and rafa.

For those of us living here in SH, that like opening a thread called:

"Move the US open two weeks earlier! then two weeks off the calender!" for
Americans or "Move Roland Garros two weeks earlier and have longer grass season" for the French.

Roger's statements are contradictory on this issue....The Middle east tornaments are suddenly more important than the slams? then he wonders why melburnians are perplexed?

Melbourne in january is here to stay, and if players need 1000 games to be
"ready" then that's their pathetic ability speaking right there.

My 10 cents...and sick of "changes to the calender" threads.


Roland Garros 2 weeks earlier + longer grass season would be awesome :) something needs to change, it was stupid last year- they finished up at Wimbledon, and the next week people like Safin were back on clay again!!

GIVE GRASS A CHANCE!!
 
That doesn't mean that there isn't room for change. It's the people with attitudes like yours that stop change from ever being considered in tennis, to help the game grow.

I was just suggesting what several of the pros have suggested, that the season needs to be shortened one way or another. Whether it should end sooner or start later is to be debated.

I just think that there's no reason for the season to end in late october and already restart 1st week of January. I'd move the tourney back a couple of weeks, maybe add another week of warm up tourneys, and yes, i'd shorten the clay court season.

Australians are more than open to change...in 87 they moved the tournament

Lets see what roger is saying...he's advocating a middle east AND aussie swing....so if you then play the Aussie in february...where is the space for
the south american clay tournys or memphis/sanjose/rotterdam etc..
indian wells has to start in march remeber?

in your words "do whatever to shorten the season"..this seems like
lengthening it.

As for the injuries debate...just as many injuries...happen at the end of the season.

as for the other thing roger's saying..."more time to prepare" ...that also
doesn't understand the bueaty and uniqueness going on...this is the CHALLENGE that faces them...play well from the start.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
IMO, a better move is to move RG back a week or two, cut down a tournament or two on clay, use that new time after RG for a grass court swing that continues 1-2 weeks after Wimbledon (make it a masters series), cut down a bit on the USO series (or just make it the same week as Indianopolis), then have your USO series, then a good carpet/indoor stretch (why did they have to get rid of carpet?) at the end, possibly giving an earlier end.
Or take a tournament or 2 off hard courts and move. Indian Wells and Miami seem to be out of place. Make the clay season start earlier. Then it would work.
 

fps

Legend
Or take a tournament or 2 off hard courts and move. Indian Wells and Miami seem to be out of place. Make the clay season start earlier. Then it would work.

i really wish it was a genuine 3-surface season instead of all clay and hard courts.
 

rhubarb

Hall of Fame
Yes, it's also bad because the kids will be going back to school, but RG is held during the school year and it's not affected. Not sure about Wimbledon, I think that starts right about the time school ends in England, but there may be a week of overlap.

School hols in England don't start until about 3 weeks after Wimbledon finishes.
 

l_gonzalez

Professional
Tennis is a global sport and in my opinion the calendar SHOULD be changed in order to reach more parts of the world. There should be a more even distribution of Masters Series events. 4 in North America and 4 in Europe is not an even distribution.

But then again, there are those who argue that the Masters Series should stay the way they are because of the prestige of certain events. We already had massive problems demoting Hamburg to a 500 event.

If you start changing things around though, there are bound to be people who are gonna be upset. In any case, it's not as easy as saying "let's change the calendar around", many, many things need to be taken into consideration.

For me in an ideal world there would be a Masters Series in Australia before the AO, Grass Masters Series at Queens and 4 weeks between the end of RG and the beginning of Wimbledon, and there would be a Masters Series in South America (probably in Buenos Aires), we would go back to best of 5 set finals at all Masters Series events and they would not be held back to back.

I would get rid of Rome, Cincinnati and Paris.

Don't ask me about the specific logistics, it's just my own little version of an ATP utopia. Oh and grass would go back to how it was in the mid to late 90's.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
My opinion is there should be at least one master before each slam. Moving AO by one week for instance (starting on January 26th) wouldn't be such a drastic adjustment.
 
Australians are more than open to change...in 87 they moved the tournament

Lets see what roger is saying...he's advocating a middle east AND aussie swing....so if you then play the Aussie in february...where is the space for
the south american clay tournys or memphis/sanjose/rotterdam etc..
indian wells has to start in march remeber?

in your words "do whatever to shorten the season"..this seems like
lengthening it.

As for the injuries debate...just as many injuries...happen at the end of the season.

as for the other thing roger's saying..."more time to prepare" ...that also
doesn't understand the bueaty and uniqueness going on...this is the CHALLENGE that faces them...play well from the start.

My point is that the season in general is too long, and in particular, the clay court and hc tourneys have too much weight compared to grass basically only being two weeks. I also think the "off season" is too short. So I'd move the Aussie back, maybe only a wk, and get rid of a lot of the lower clay tourneys, and lenghen the grass season a couple of wks, w/ a MS event.

Also, I'd shorten the indoors season after USO, just bc no sports fans in America really pay attention to the game after the USO. It'd also make the USO mean more as far as the year end championships, which could be middle start of oct. Just a suggestion. Not saying you have to agree w/ it.
 

vtmike

Banned
Now that Nadal also agrees I wonder if Veroniquem and Nadal_Freak will say that he is also arrogant....or would Federer's comments have suddenly become true and not reek of arrogance :confused: :p

Of course, anything Fed says is a token of 'arrogance', no? :rolleyes:
Even if he says anything in agreement with Rafa, they are sure to twist it some other way to make him look bad... :?

Suddenly the Freaks are actually discussing about the topic and not about how arrogant Fed is! LOL
Maybe Nadal should agree with everything Federer says....atleast that way we will have more meaningful discussions here *WINK*
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
My point is that the season in general is too long, and in particular, the clay court and hc tourneys have too much weight compared to grass basically only being two weeks. I also think the "off season" is too short. So I'd move the Aussie back, maybe only a wk, and get rid of a lot of the lower clay tourneys, and lenghen the grass season a couple of wks, w/ a MS event.

Also, I'd shorten the indoors season after USO, just bc no sports fans in America really pay attention to the game after the USO. It'd also make the USO mean more as far as the year end championships, which could be middle start of oct. Just a suggestion. Not saying you have to agree w/ it.
I agree the USO should be the end of season tournament. The interest drops massively after that.
 

All-rounder

Legend
i don't really care about changing dates on the aussie open as it is my least favourite as long as there are surprise wildcards in the the mix then they can move it to any date
 

Fee

Legend
AO is not the problem. The problem is we have 3 clay masters in a row, 3 weeks of grass (2 of which are Wimbledon) and what, 4 weeks of hard courts (2 masters in a row).

What calendar are you looking at? We've never had 3 clay masters in a row, Monte Carlo was always a few weeks ahead of the Hamburg-Rome combo, and there was always a week between Rome and Roland Garros. There are 4 weeks of grass, including the 2 weeks of Wimbledon. There are almost 6 weeks of summer hardcourts in North America before the USO, depending on the year, but there are 2 or 3 weeks of clay in Europe at the same time.

School hols in England don't start until about 3 weeks after Wimbledon finishes.

Thank you. I knew their schedule was very different from the US, I just couldn't remember which way. :)
 

TheMusicLover

G.O.A.T.
Suddenly the Freaks are actually discussing about the topic and not about how arrogant Fed is! LOL
Maybe Nadal should agree with everything Federer says....atleast that way we will have more meaningful discussions here *WINK*

The funny thing is that Raf and Fed actually agree rather often with each other. Somehow, some way, it barely ever gets noticed by the 'freaks' from either side of the fence... *WINK* :)
 

beckham

Semi-Pro
It would give the pros a longer break if they didnt compete in the opening tournaments, might be nice now that i think about it.
 

droliver

Professional
Do you think the US Open should change its position on the calender? Of course you don't - and why is that? Because it falls neatly during the American summer just before the kids have to go back to school and would be unable to attend. The Australian Open is played in its current time slot for exactly the same reason. That is, during OUR summer holidays and before OUR kids go back to school.


Well, the start date for the US Open is August 25 which is about 2 weeks into the school year for many school districts here in the USA
 

seffina

G.O.A.T.
Yup, where I live school starts second week of August. Even college before the 25th sometimes. We end in May unlike those that end in June, though.

School in NY usually starts first week of September?
 
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