• What the Deuce

The perfect solution?

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Paris Masters with a shoulder injury © Getty Images

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Novak Djokovic excluded, this week's ATP World Tour Finals in London are the climax to the season, but in two years' time the season will have already finished after the ATP announced an extended off-season.

Djokovic has a week to recover before heading home to Belgrade for the Davis Cup final against France on December 3. It should be no problem for the world No. 3, who defied fatigue and illness to help Serbia seal their place in their first final, where they will meet nine-time champions France.

By and large, the announcement is a positive one - players get an extra two weeks off, but no tournaments get kicked into touch. Roger Federer welcomed the decision: "In six weeks, you can heal problems, inflammations, you name it. Inflammations take - I'm not a doctor - but about three weeks to heal. Four weeks is a good thing. So that still leaves you a bit of practice.

"We've been trying for quite a few years to make it clear that it's too short an off-season. I'm hoping this will make a difference," added Andy Murray.

The top players have been lobbying for a reduced season, and they have got it, largely thanks to a reshuffle rather than anything more innovative. The real movers are the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, which has been shifted forward to February, and September's clay-court event in Bucharest which is now in the lead-up to the French Open.

The ATP will be patting themselves on the back for seemingly keeping everybody happy - no tournament has been axed from the calendar, and the players get an extra two weeks' break.

The top eight players are in London for the ATP World Tour Finals © PA Photos

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But on closer inspection, the 2012 calendar is a cop-out, and the decision to remove the dead week between the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals could seriously backfire. In 2012 the ATP World Tour Finals will start two weeks earlier on November 5, immediately after the Paris Masters, putting the final Masters event of the season at risk of being smothered.

Nadal missed Paris with a sore shoulder, chosing instead to focus on being fit for London. Removing the 'dead' week in between could be detrimental. At present, the players usually take a couple of days' rest before heading to London to fulfil media commitments.

Removing this week will leave the players with no leeway if they get injured in Paris - so they may not push themselves as hard as they might in any other Masters event.

Paris is already a red herring. Take the Rogers Cup, slap bang in the middle of the season between Wimbledon and the US Open, it has been dominated by the world's top players. Since 2004 the title has never been won by anyone other than Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic.

By stark contrast, look down the list of winners at the Paris Masters and it isn't dominated by the names we have come to expect. There is no Roger Federer, no Rafael Nadal, no Andy Murray.

The fact that the last man to successfully defend their Paris title was Arthur Ashe in 1971 speaks volumes - the final Masters event of the season is a lot more pot-luck as the top players turn their focus to the year-end finals.

Since 2003 there have been seven different winners with an average ranking of 19: names including Tim Henman, Tomas Berdych - ranked 50 at the time - and world No. 21 David Nalbandian in 2007.

Removing the week between Paris and London will only serve to encourage the top players to take it easy in Paris, instead choosing to conserve their energy. Prize money aside, no player who has qualified for the finals will be keen to be playing in the final in Paris, only to fly straight to London with no time for recuperation.

"The health and wellbeing of our players is paramount. Preserving and extending their playing careers is critical for the long-term good of the sport," said ATP president Adam Helfant when announcing the change.

An extra two weeks' rest for the players is certainly a step in the right direction, but by cramming four tournaments into a single week, it risks undermining the smaller tournaments. With many players opting to take a break after the busy European season - the clay-court episode followed swiftly by the short-but-sweet British grass season - the post-Wimbledon weeks can be very quiet indeed.

But with Newport, Bastad, Stuttgart and Umag all vying to attract the best of the rest, the ATP risk spreading their players too thinly.

The tennis season starts with the Australian Open in January, and tennis purists will stake a claim for the year to end with the US Open in September (save perhaps for the Davis Cup final).

But the reality is that, like in any sport, money is the driving factor, and the more tournaments the ATP can cram into the calendar, the more money they can make. The Asian hard-court season may not have the tradition of Newport or Queen's but it has the cold, hard cash, and there is little chance of the Tour turning its back on the lucrative Asian market.

As with most things in life, it is a case of getting the balance right, and in this case the balance is between players' health and wellbeing and the need to satisfy fans worldwide, and also the sponsors.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.