Men's tennis faces major shake-up

The changes could see Roger Federer playing fewer games

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will face major changes next season as the men's tennis tour tries to increase its appeal to the public.

The ATP intends to start more tournaments on Sundays, introduce more round-robin formats and reduce the number of best-of-five-set finals.

There will also be the first widespread prize money increase since 2000.

World number two Nadal said: "This is a great idea - finally we're doing something really good for our sport."

This year's French Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to start on a Sunday, allowing greater TV exposure.

The players strongly support the move away from best-of-five-set finals James Blake

The ATP's Phil Anderton said: "You don't open a movie on a Monday morning, and we shouldn't start our tournaments then either.

"We want tournaments to begin in a fun-filled, festival atmosphere, and build interest as events culminate in an exciting final weekend."

The round-robin set-up, with the top player in each pool advancing to knockout rounds, will be tried in 2007, with plans to use it more extensively in 2008 and 2009.

The advantage of the format is that if a popular player loses his first match, fans can still count on seeing him play again.

Some seven-day ATP tournaments will expand to eight days in 2007, with Sunday starts everywhere by 2009.

The move towards shorter finals is part of an effort to reduce the wear and tear on players.

World number five James Blake said: "The players strongly support the move away from best-of-five-set finals.

"This is one step toward ensuring that the last two players standing at any given tournament aren't sidelined the next week or even longer."