Grass is perfect length for Federer

With five successive Wimbledon titles, and an unbeaten record on grass stretching back six years, Roger Federer should be the first man to vote for a longer grasscourt season.

But he isn't.

With three successive French Open titles, and coming from a country with an incurable allergy to grass, Rafael Nadal should be the first to vote for a shorter one.

But he isn't.

"I don't think it should happen (lengthen the season), even though grass is maybe my best surface and I've had unbelievable success," said Federer.

"It stays unique to see the French Open backed up right away with one or two tournaments and then Wimbledon.
"Why should we change that if we've seen great things happen with what Bjorn Borg did and with what Rafa and myself have been able to achieve the last few years?"

Despite complaints over the cramped 2008 tournament schedule, which saw three European claycourt Masters events squeezed into four weeks to create space for the Beijing Olympics, many are baffled by a grasscourt season which lasts just four weeks.

The two-week long Grand Slam event at Wimbledon is preceeded by a fortnight of warm-up events, mostly in England but with one each in Germany and Holland.

Once finished, it's back to hardcourts and the long run-in to the US Open at the end of August.

Unlike Federer, Nadal, who has been runner-up to the world number one in the last two Wimbledon finals leaving Spain without a men's champion since 1966, dreams of a longer grasscourt programme.

It's an opinion which would not be shared by many of his compatriots or other Latin devotees of clay.

Albert Costa, Spain's French Open champion in 2002, planned his honeymoon to coincide with Wimbledon fortnight while moody Chilean Marcelo Rios famously claimed that 'grass is for cows'.

"The grasscourt season is very short," said Nadal. "I always say it's not fair that you only have two weeks to prepare for a very important tournament like Wimbledon.

"But, boy, I never thought of the calendar without Wimbledon, so I prefer a longer grass court season."

Both Federer and Nadal, as well as world number three Novak Djokovic, are standing for the ATP Players' Council, forming a powerful voice in the running of the sport.

It's just as well that they don't have to take on board what some women players think of grasscourt tennis.

"It's in the middle of nowhere," complained Russia's Dinara Safina.

"It's just three tournaments. There is nowhere else other than England and in Holland where there are grass courts.

"I don't like, so they can take it away."