Andy Murray has said that he doesn't want to strike over the length of the ATP calendar as he prepares to defend his Shanghai Masters title this week.
There will be a meeting of the players council over the next few weeks to discuss proposals to put to the ATP over issues with the crowded tennis calendar. Murray mentioned a few weeks ago that there could potentially be the possibility of players going on strike but his words were soundly criticized by both journalists and ex-players alike.
However Murray insisted on Tuesday that his words had been blown out of proportion. "When I said it was a possibility, I didn't expect that to be such a massive issue. It's so far away from being at that level," he said. "Me, and not any of the players I know, want to strike. The players, I think, are maybe coming across as being spoilt when I don't think that is the case."
It is not just the scheduling which is giving the players cause for concern but other issues such as the balls used for different tournaments. Murray would prefer there to be more uniformity between events.
"The balls that we have played with over the last three weeks - every one of them is just completely different," he said. "I think that's something that I would like to see changed, to have more consistency in the balls - it's almost like playing a different game. If you asked a golfer to change balls every single week, they'd be hitting balls 20 yards too far and hitting shots all over the place."
