Andy Roddick tells AFP that he does not expect any substantial changes to be made with what he and other star players consider to be an overly taxing schedule.
"It's a little tedious," Roddick said. "I think in 2001, 2002 we finished around Halloween (late October) at Paris Bercy. We've had all this talk about shortening the season. Now that tournament finishes two weeks later. If we've been talking about it for this long and nothing's been done, then as far as our opinions and our voice, it's a flawed system. The players' council can vote 6-0 or 7-0 for something. When it gets to the board we can conveniently get out-voted. It's a numbers game, and they don't seem to make sense as far as what we feel we need as far as our bodies and frankly our careers (are concerned)."
The ATP Board of Directors is made of three player representatives, three tournament representatives and the CEO, who casts a tie-breaking vote if necessary.
According to the ATP, Paris Bercy ended on Nov. 4 in 2001 and on Nov. 3 in 2002. This year it won't end until Nov. 13.
In 2012, the Masters tournament in Bercy will end on Nov. 4, but will be immediately followed by the ATP World Tour Finals in London for the first time. There is a week in between those two tournaments this year. The ATP eliminated two weeks from the 2012 and 2013 schedules in order to lengthen the off-season to seven weeks.