Federer, Dimitrov discuss one thing tennis should change

Tennis is a game of tradition, but these two think there's a little room for improvement. (AP Photo)

Baseline got some one-on-one time with Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov in April, and asked each ATP star to provide one thing they would change in tennis right now. Though comparison between the one-handed-backhand playing, stylish Europeans have been made for years, their responses were different, though equally thoughtful.

Roger Federer:

I think what would be nice for the fans is to know when we would be playing—or even for me, as a player, it would be good to be better prepared. A marathon runner knows that in six months he’s going to be running on Sunday at 9 a.m., so he can gear up for that. Or a boxer, he knows exactly what’s going to come. Soccer, as well, they know Champions League matches are exactly at this time [on this day].

In tennis, I sit there on Sunday and the draw comes out, and I don’t know if I’m going to play Monday or Tuesday, and then I don’t know if I’m playing Monday morning or night. The fan doesn’t know that, I don’t know that.

We’re used to that, because in the juniors we played two to three matches a day—all the time, everywhere, any condition. That’s the beauty of tennis, that we’re super flexible—OK, it rains all day. we’ll play at midnight, fine. But what would be nice to know is when do the top guys play, or when do we play almost every single day, so if you want to buy a ticket you knew that on Friday at 6 p.m. I will be playing.

I don’t think we’ll ever get to that. It’s too hard. There’s no guarantees, especially down the stretch of a tournament because you don’t know who’s going to win. But at least in the first round, if there’s a creative way to find out when all the top guys will be playing earlier, that would be a good thing.

Grigor Dimitrov:

I think the only thing that’s going to be good for the sport is going to be if we play with the same balls at every tournament. I think that is the one thing that has been troubling the players a little bit. A lot of discussion has been going on on tour, so that’s that. Everything else is pretty simple.

It’s the ATP, it’s us. we’re the ones that decide. I think, so far, everything seems to be in a good spot. I wouldn’t change anything else.

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Federer definitely has a point. Scheduling is completely unpredictable. On Wednesday in Rome, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all played on the same day. That’s something that almost never happens. In the two-week-long Grand Slams, the unpredictability is even greater. Plenty of fans who are buying tickets are being forced to rely on educated guesses about which star might be playing.

And Dimitrov raises a fair question as well. Remember that time Murray lost his cool at the Miami Open after playing with a WTA ball? It turns out that there is also a huge variety of balls on each respective tour, so players have to adjust for different official balls almost every week. Dunlop is the popular choice for the European swing, but Roland Garros uses Babolat and Wimbledon prefers Slazenger. The Australian Open and U.S. Open both use Wilson. Each brand of ball varies a little bit in weight, size, bounce, feel, etc.

Neither Federer nor Dimitrov's proposed changes are likely to come into place any time soon—or ever, for that matter—but there's little doubt that they should be considered.