Roger Federer says tennis is moving in the right direction, but believes a change in vision could broaden the sport's appeal.

The 20-time Grand Slam king, 18-time major champion Rafael Nadal and Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer were recently elected to the ATP Player Council, which was hit by mass resignations and dissension last month.

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Asked to address the state of the sport in Cincinnati, Federer said tennis is moving in the right direction, but believes too much in-fighting stalls progress.

"We like to battle a little bit within our sport instead of maybe opening the horizon a little bit and the vision saying we should maybe battle other sports rather," Federer said. "But it is what it is. At the end of the day, I still think things are moving in the right direction."

The third-ranked Swiss says solidarity and a change in vision that places other sports—rather than various tennis governing bodies—as competitors could help grow the game.

"Things are positive," Federer said. "We have good numbers, you know, in terms of attendance, prize money. You name it, it's all going up. Could it be more? Yeah, maybe. Possibly. I don't know.

"But I don't like to talk bad about our sport, and I put in a lot of time and other guys have done the same, and we have a lot of very hard-working people in our sport that love their tournament, their sport, whatever, fans. I think we really have particularly strong, how do you say, people that appreciate the game and love it and they don't care. They can work for scraps and they're just happy to be part of the show, you know. We've got to take care of those people."



The seven-time Cincinnati champion says he hopes to help foster growth by re-joining the ATP Player Council, which is scheduled to meet in New York City next week, and maintaining a positive presence.

"The game's got to grow. It has to grow, of course," Federer said. "I'm aware of that, too. And maybe by joining the council, I can help a little bit there. But, you know, I think the game is definitely in a much better place than it was 20 years ago when I came about and it was already in a good place then.

"You always are going to go through ups and downs, but you won't hear me talk bad about the game, to be honest."

Photo credit: Christopher Levy