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Reuters 17y

ATP chief says tour will tighten up on withdrawals

PARIS -- ATP chairman Etienne De Villiers
said he was in favor of bans to punish players missing top
tournaments without a good excuse.

"We're going to tighten up on withdrawals," De Villiers said
on Tuesday in the French capital, where he was attending the
Paris Masters.

"At the moment players get too much flexibility. They take
options on tournaments and then withdraw with no penalties. It's
just not right for the fans and for the tournaments."

De Villiers's comments came a day after world No. 1
Roger Federer pulled out from the Paris event citing exhaustion.
It left the tournament without five of the world's top six
players.

The head of men's tennis did not blame Federer, who had to
play a best-of-five-sets final to win the Swiss Indoors on
Sunday, but said changes needed to be made to the structure of
the calendar.

"There's no guy that's more dedicated and shows more sense
of responsibility than Roger Federer," De Villiers told
reporters. "I will never criticise him for anything but it is
indicative of the players' level of exhaustion.

"There are too many back-to-back tournaments. It does seem
crazy that Federer was playing a [best of] five sets final the
weekend before he was due to play a Masters Series tournament."

A reformed calendar, which is scheduled to be introduced in
2009, was not the only option, De Villiers said.

The ATP chief said the showcase tournaments should be made
more attractive with increased prize money and more ranking
points to gain.

"We need focused fans, focused media and focused television
on the tournaments that matter. It's a combination of how the
calendar is structured, where the players get to play and when.

"We need to get these guys sufficiently motivated in terms
of rewards, prize money and difference between bigger
tournaments and the smaller ones in terms of points.

"That way you get players to focus on the number of
tournaments they should be playing. We do need to get the top
guys playing the top tournaments."

On the other hand, De Villiers said, there should be
sanctions such as fines, points deductions and suspensions for
unjustified withdrawals.

"The sanctions should be quite significant", he said.

"If you've made the Tour playable, if you've taken away
back-to-backs, if you've given the top players more points
relative to the other tournaments and 20 to 30 per cent more
prize money, then I believe we can expect to have the corollary
which is if you don't do that, then we're going to take things
away from you -- money, points and your ability to play.

"We have to start considering suspensions."

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