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Are there more cons than pros for shortening ATP season?

One person you will not find moaning about the length of the tennis season is Roger Federer.

While the ATP have trumpeted their decision to reduce the men’s season by two weeks to create a seven-week off-season, the 16-times grand slam champion has shown so far at the ATP World Tour finals that, at 29, he is feeling as fresh as ever.

Straight set victories over David Ferrer, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling put the Swiss into the semi-finals seemingly without breaking sweat and his record since losing in the Wimbledon final has been hugely impressive.

In fact, despite giving the new schedule, that will not take effect until 2012, a general thumbs up, you get the feeling Federer would be happier if it was left alone.

One of the greatest athletes ever to play tennis, Federer tends to suffer less injuries than other players and a longer off-season might help other close the class gap that is still so apparent most times he steps out on court.

“I think I’ve shown a lot of grit at the end of the season throughout my career,” Federer said after his 6-4 6-2 victory over a fatigued-looking Murray.

“This is the ninth time I’m qualifying and the ninth time also playing, the ninth time I’m playing through groups. I find an extra gear at the end of the year when the season is so long.”

How important is the Federer-Nadal rivalry for tennis?

The ATP World Tour Finals are supposed to be a showdown between the world’s eight best players although even before a ball has been hit in anger, the talk of a Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal final showdown has been gathering momentum.   

The Federer-Nadal rivalry has been the lifeblood of tennis since the duo first traded shots at the Miami Masters over six years ago but lately fans have been suffering withdrawal symptoms as the two men have locked horns just once all season.

While this has been good news for rivals such as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, pundits such as Boris Becker feel there is no better advert for tennis than the epic clashes between Federer and Nadal — who between them have won 25 grand slam titles.  

“Every sport needs a rivalry between the one and two in the world and tennis has it with Federer and Nadal. It’s just amazing for the fans to watch two players that are so different by personality, by character, by playing style,” six-times grand slam champion Becker told Reuters.

“They beat each other up, one day the Swiss wins the tournament, the other the Spaniard wins, so it’s great for tennis and I hope it continues for a couple more years because that’s something any sport needs.”

Federer, more than anyone, wants the rivalry to continue because he would dearly love to narrow the 7-14 head-to-head record against his Spanish foe but to do that he needs to shake off an affliction that is creeping more and more into his game – matchpoint-itis

Has Nadal’s career already peaked?

Rafael Nadal has electrified men’s tennis since bursting on to the scene in 2005 but there are worrying signs that the Spaniard’s career may already have peaked.

With six grand slam titles to his name already Nadal has already staked his claim as one of the greats of the game but the aura he used to bring to the court has vanished.

In his first round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Monday he was bullied by Sweden’s Robin Soderling, spending virtually the whole match on the run.

It was a similar story on Wednesday against Nikolay Davydenko, with the Spaniard losing his second match in straight sets to leave himself with no chance of making progress.

The match against Soderling was instructive. His shots lacked depth and menace, and were food and drink to his opponent, who had time to set up hisbig forehand and pin Nadal in the corners of the court.

The serve is a worry too — he is managing very few easy points there — and then there is the matter of his knees. Only Nadal knows how much the tendonitis that prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title is still bothering him.

So much of Nadal’s mystique was built around his physical attributes, his speed and his court coverage. Getting the ball past his racket looked a near impossibility at times as Nadal often seemed twice as big as he actually is.