Will There Be a Tennis Strike?

The Big Three - Federer, Nadal and Djokovic

Andy Murray has gone on record saying 'Yes I think so.'

This is nothing new. For years now tennis players have complained about how long their season is compared to every other sport. They virtually have a year long season without sufficient off-time to recover - again - like every other sport.

This has been a contentious point for a very long time.

Several top-players LED BY the Big Three, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are reportedly "not afraid" to boycott or strike to get the reigning bodies of tennis - Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and International Tennis Federation (ITF)- to reform the schedule. Viva la Revolucion!

As it stands now, Rafa, for example, will not be able to rest until December 5. Even then he would have a scant 3 weeks to rest, recuperate and recover before he will have to report to Australia for the January Open there.

That's a very long and difficult season. Consider football. Those guys play once a week for only 16 weeks! In tennis it's a constant 47-49 weeks. That's crazy.

From the AFP:
"The 24-year-old Scot (Andy Murray) told the BBC that he had held several talks with other players at the US Open and they would be discussing the matter further at the Shanghai Masters early next month.

Matters came to a head at the US Open where rain forced some players such as Spanish star Rafael Nadal to play matches on three successive days then have one day off and travel to Europe to play Davis Cup.

The players were also incensed by the announcement last year by ATP chief executive Adam Helfant, who has since decided to leave the governing body, that 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.

However, Murray made clear the players' patience was wearing thin.

"It's (a strike) a possibility. I know from speaking to some players they're not afraid of doing that (striking)," said Murray, who was beaten by Nadal in the US Open semi-finals.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that but I'm sure the players will consider it." "

We saw the show of solidarity between players as we've never seen before at the US Open earlier this month. The players marched practically in formation right into the President's office and had their say.

They've cut their teeth with that one and will almost certainly be ready to unionize themselves and fight for the bigger prize.

Now that Roger Federer has twin baby girls at home, we're sure he will lead the way into Mordor to destroy the One Ring of power a power play for reformation. He has as much to fight for off the court as he does on it.

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