By Erik Gudris / November 5, 2013

 

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic think some things should change about the ATP's season-ending event in London. Roger Federer disagrees. Tennis Now's Erik Gudris weighs in.

Photo Credit:AP

After a long season, the ATP Tour once again concludes its season at the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London. Not only does the event showcase the "elite eight" in men's tennis, it is also a celebratory finale aimed to promote the sport to a mass worldwide audience.

But one of the few attending this week in London who seems to be a "party pooper" is none other than Rafael Nadal. The world No. 1, though very much a fan of the unique atmosphere of the O2 Arena, expressed his reservations over having the season ending tournament played yet again indoors.

"For the World Tour Finals, we qualify by playing on all surfaces, but the finals are always on hard courts. It would be a little bit great, and I know it will not happen for my generation, so I am talking about the next generations, but it would be more fair to the players and I think for the fans it would be something more interesting to change the surface every year," Nadal said during a pre-event press conference.

Advocating mixing things up at the year-end event is nothing new for Nadal, who has made similar statements before. While the Spaniard has mastered many surfaces, indoor hard has not been a bright spot during his stellar career. Nadal has only won one title under the lights and has only reached the finals of the ATP World Tour Finals just once in 2010.

While Nadal feels a change of surfaces would make things more interesting for the fans, and perhaps a better opportunity for him, other players wouldn't mind seeing a change of venue, either.

Novak Djokovic expressed his view that alternating the season ending event, as it did in the past, to different cities and countries, would help grow awareness of the sport.

Roger Federer, a six-time winner of the event, is perfectly happy with having the event stay in London. And that appears to be the prevailing view of the ATP Tour itself. With the contract at the O2 Arena set to expire in 2015, talk within the ATP itself suggests an extension of the London contract looks certain.

Should the event remain as it is in London? Or should it turn into an alternating "road show" every year in a different city with a different surface chosen by some agreed upon process like a players' vote? Probably depends on who you ask.

Nadal makes a fair point that the year-long tour showcases events on different surfaces and to change up the season-end event would reflect that. But such a switch would ultimately benefit some players more than others, just as some players perform better indoors than others.

As to Djokovic's view that moving around to different cities would increase awareness of the sport, there's merit in that, and that's one of the goals of the current WTA Championships. But with London proving itself a success, not only in ticket sales, but also in the organizers' ability to generate buzz for the finals all year long, replicating such results in another city could prove difficult. And let's face it: the elite of the sport certainly don't want to finish their seasons in a half empty arena.

The ATP World Tour Finals, after some early misgivings about going to London, appear to have hit upon a successful formula of having the biggest stars in the sport in one of the world's biggest cities. Will it change? Only time will tell. As far as Nadal's opinion of the whole affair, it just might change too should he finally lift his first-ever season-ending trophy in a few days time. If that happens, it could be the perfect climax to a standout 2013 season for a man once viewed as just a clay-court specialist.