Murray warns of player strike threat

ANDY MURRAY says top players are “serious” about their call for changes to the tennis calendar — and won’t rule out strike action.

Players are upset at overcrowding in the schedule and will meet in Shanghai next month to plot their next move.

Murray told BBC Sport: “It’s a possibility. I know from speaking to some players they’re not afraid of doing that (striking). Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that but I’m sure the players will consider it.

“If we come up with a list of things we want changed — and everyone is in agreement but they don’t happen — then we need to have some say in what goes on in our sport.

“We’ll sit down, talk about it with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and International Tennis Federation (ITF), see if they will come to a compromise and, if not, we’ll go from there. We just want things to change, really small things. Two or three weeks during the year, a few less tournaments which I don’t think is unreasonable.”

Last night, the ATP said it was “committed to working with the players” on such issues.

Last year ATP chief executive Adam Helfant, who has since decided to leave the governing body, announced the Paris Masters and the World Tour finals would be played back-to-back, so two weeks have been saved in the 2012 ATP calendar. But Murray argued: “Right now it takes so long to change things. To get another change implemented may take five or six years at the rate things are going and then all of us will be done (retired). We want it to happen sooner rather than later.”

At the US Open, Rafael Nadal reached the final after playing three singles matches in three days. He then had one day off before playing for four hours against Novak Djokovic. Straight after that match he was on a plane to Spain and, four days later, playing a potential five-set Davis Cup match.

The ATP responded to the remarks from Murray by stressing they would continue to listen to the players’ suggestions, while also stressing improvements to the calendar already made.

“The players should and do have a major say in how the game is run,” the ATP statement said.

“Just last year we announced that we would be lengthening our off-season by two weeks beginning in 2012, meaning players will have seven weeks in between ATP World Tour seasons.

“The health and wellbeing of the players is paramount, and the ATP has implemented a number of changes to address player health concerns in recent years... we remain committed to working with players and other governing bodies to address these issues.”