Andy Murray Says Players Unable To Meet To Discuss ATP Schedule

A month ago, Andy Murray adamantly told the media that the sport’s top players would be meeting after the Shanghai Masters to discuss the overdone ATP schedule.

With the withdrawal of top world players Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, both Murray and Rafael Nadal have acknowledged that coordinating everyone’s schedule isn’t as easy as they thought.

Now, the post-Shanghai Masters meeting seems very unlikely to take place.

“Whether it happens or not, it’s quite a tough thing to do because there’s a lot of players to coordinate and sometimes guys don’t go to the same tournaments,” Murray said. “Tennis players aren’t always the easiest people to get hold of when they’re not at tournaments.”

Just last November, the ATP made the decision to extend the offseason from five to seven weeks, but the players still think there are too many tournaments in too little time. Last month, Murray also said that the decisions by the ATP take too long to put into place.

During the U.S. Open, Murray, Nadal and American Andy Roddick took their complaints beyond the ATP schedule to the conditions of the courts during multiple rainy days of the tournament.

Roddick, who has been more outspoken about the issue this week, said the meeting is not to discuss money at all, it’s to discuss player safety in the current strenuous schedule.

“We need to be smart about it and take our time and make sure that it’s well thought out and not be kind of reactionary. But, you know, there is a discussion going on,” Roddick said.