Roger Federer has made no secret of his wish for more Masters events to be extended from their current three-set format in the past.
Novak Djokovic has the complete opposite view and recently even suggested Grand Slams should be changed to three sets to keep the attention of younger fans.
But Federer seems to be facing an uphill battle in his bid for longer matches across the season, revealing the time his fellow professionals all voted against him.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Federer said. “Like I said on The Tennis Channel, I’m for more five-setters from time to time at some key events, starting with the World Tour Finals.
“I think the finals has to be best of five. I don’t know why we went back to best of three. I was in the voting room when it happened, and all the players were for best of three. I couldn’t believe it.
“I was the last guy to vote, so it was, like, well, it doesn’t matter what I say anymore, because all the other players voted for best of three. That was back in Shanghai in ’06? I’m not sure how long ago it was now.
“And then for players’ health, and I understand we just said throughout, you know, across the board, we had to do best-of-three finals because we also had changes, as you remember, with the TVs deciding, well, we have a slot for best of five, so this year it’s best of five.
“Next year you came in and we had a slot at 10:30 in the morning at Indian Wells. You’re like, okay, we’ll have only the best-of-three then. And it was over in an hour.
“I remember the match, (Lleyton) Hewitt against (Tim) Henman, for instance, it just couldn’t go on like this. I think we just had to take a decision, and the tour had to take a decision.
“That’s why I think we see no more best of five at that level. But sure, it’s not easy, then, if you only play best of three to all of a sudden show up and only play best of five at the slam level, because you do need some experience for that.”
Federer’s comments come in light of the recent changes to the Davis Cup.
From next year, a huge overhaul will be made, as the tournament is set to take place throughout one week in November.
The ITF voted to transform the team competition into a one-week, 18-team competition by a 71.63 percent majority, which will provide the ITF with $125 million annually.
There will also be a round of traditional home-and-away ties to qualify for the competition, though reduced to best-of-three sets and different scheduling.
Under the plans, the World Cup of tennis will be played in the traditional week of the Davis Cup Final.
And Federer admits he is ’surprised’ and ‘sad’ at the decision to change the Davis Cup.
“Then for Davis Cup, I don’t know how the votes work, to be honest,” he added.
“But clearly the ITF has never historically involved the players, so that is saying – but the federations, yeah, we’re kind of there but we’re actually not there. They decided to do that.
“I’m still a bit surprised. I feel sad about not to have the Davis Cup as it used to be. Will never be the same.
“This is for the next generation, and I just hope that every penny will be paid of that mass of money that has been paid for the next generation, because we have seen a similar situation way back when with the tour and it set us back in a big way.
“I don’t want that to happen again. But, look, I’m all for innovation, and gotta give them a chance to some extent. It will be interesting to see how it’s going to work.”
Federer will be back in action, playing his favoured five-set format, when the US Open kicks off in New York next week.
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