Should Tennis players strike?

Recently Andy Murray has added his name to the a number of top tennis players that have voiced their concerns over the crowded professional schedule. Tennis players get one month of off season a year, and even that is cut short if you happen to have made the final of the Davis Cup with your country. Straight after this off season they have one of the four main tournaments of the year, the Australian Open. The timing of this event means that even during the rest period you have to be keeping fit and training is almost as intensive as it is during the playing season. But surely it's this hectic schedule that allows them to make so much money overy the 10-15 year career they have? You could also argue that if someone wants to risk playing week in week out for ranking points and money, but risk injuries along the way, then it is that players choice to do so?

Whilst footballers are complaining about having 2 or 3 games a week tennis players regularly have 4 games a week,and during grand slam fortnights this could mean 7 matches of around 4 hours each. And with two grandslams (The French Open and Wimbledon) falling within just over a month period there is a lot of tennis to be played, especially as these two surfaces (clay and grass) are the most different of all the surfaces that the sport is played on. If these players are injured for 2 or 3 weeks they're missing a lot of matches, and a lot of ranking points in the process. Footballers on the other hand will still get their weekly wage, just missing a few bonus payments for playing or scoring. Longevity in the game is not just attributed to skill, but how you can condition your body as well. But with the game becoming increasingly punishing on the body players like Nadal will be hard pressed to match the records of Federer, who hasn't retired from a tournament since he was 16. All in all the game is getting tougher and the schedule hasn't evolved with it.

Despite this sporting professionals all seem to complain about playing a sport they love for a living, and the tabloids do love to moan at them for this. The players put their bodies on the line but they get rewarded for it. Ranking points can be protected if the player is injured, so it is not as huge a loss as it might have been in the past if you now get injured. The prize money for each of the grand slams is eye watering, and despite not yet winning his first Grand Slam Murrays earnings so far total nearly $17m, so he's not exactly on the breadline. Also if a player is good enough he can set himself up for huge endorsement deals, such as Federer with Nike, Gilette and Rolex, as well as future coaching jobs for the players who understand the technical side of the game that bit more. John Lloyd never really captured the imagination as a tennis player, but he's forged a long career out of the sport with his own string of clubs up and down the country offering a comprehensive sporting club membership.

Taking everything into account, I do feel the players need to have some restbite when it comes to their schedule, and it definitely needs to be looked at if we want the game to progress as it has done in the last 30 years. Maybe limiting the number of tournaments that can be entered by a player each year would help, so players wouldnt feel pressured to push their bodies as far as their games need to be. So despite the stick they will get from saying its too hard work, Maybe their schedule does need to be ammended, otherwise I don't think the game will continue to be as exciting as the last few years.