Organisers slam Fed idea

Fededer, president of the ATP Player Council, said he would like to see the Australian Open moved back a few weeks so the top players could enter warm-up events in the Middle East and Australia.

Under the current schedule, players often choose between events but Federer, one of a handful of players who played at both regions, said changing the dates of the Australian Open would give all players the chance to play both.

"The calendar is always something we do talk about," Federer said in Melbourne.

"I guess to fix the Australian Open problem, having more tournaments beforehand it, is to move it backwards a couple of weeks so you have more of an Australian swing coming, and maybe also the middle eastern tournaments."

A number of top players, including world number one Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, as well as Venus Williams played warm-up events overseas instead of the Australian circuit.

Australian Open organisers have long faced complaints from players about the timing of their summer circuit but Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said there was nothing wrong with the lead-up events.

"This year Australia has showed the strength of their lead-in events," he said. "From an operational point of view, our gates opened earlier by a week sometimes up to two weeks for transportation and accreditation than it has in the past so the interest in coming down to Australia has picked up and is more significant.

"There are events that are around the world as there are before and after the Australian Open, particularly in the Middle East but we don't see them as any threat at all to our lead-in series."

The timing of the Australian Open has always been a sensitive issue. Local organisers like to run it in January during school holidays to attract bigger crowds.

In the days before easy jet travel, the top players in Europe and the US preferred to stay at home rather than undertake the lengthy journey.

Even now, the top players are regularly missing and the problem is made worse by Australia's scorching summer heat where on-court temperatures often exceed 45 degrees Celcius.

Players have long been demanding the first grand slam of the year be moved back to March when the weather is cooler and also to give them a longer break.

Tennis Australia officials did agree to push the 2007 tournament back one week but later scrapped the plan and reverted to the original dates.