 Federer added an title to his collection in Basle on Sunday |
Roger Federer has urged the men's ATP Tour to introduce a six-week break to protect its players from burnout. "I think it's time we shifted back a bit and we get a proper off-season," said the 29-year-old Swiss 16-time Grand Slam winner and world number two. "Four weeks is just not enough. I think six is much better as you can take two weeks off... practise three, four weeks which is a lot for us in our world." The ATP has said it is looking for a "meaningful way" to cut its schedule. Federer was speaking ahead of his first match at the Paris Masters, where he has yet to go beyond the quarter-finals. World number one Rafael Nadal and top French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are among the high-profile absentees in Paris due to injuries.  | 606: DEBATE |
Spaniard Nadal, who has recurring knee problems but misses Paris with a shoulder injury, has previously said the season is too long. Federer added a rethink was in the "best interests" of tournaments towards the end of the year which are often hit by a series of withdrawals. The ATP is to finalise its proposed calendars for the 2012 and 2013 seasons at a series of board meetings in London during the World Tour Finals later this month. Several top players are behind the appeal for a tour overhaul including world number three Novak Djokovic, who sits with Nadal on the Players' Council. Federer, who won the Swiss Indoors title in Basle on Sunday, meets Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the second round in Paris on Wednesday. After the elite-eight World Tour Finals event at the O2 Arena, the top players have a month's break before beginning their preparations for the 2011 Australian Open in mid-January.
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