Federer hits out at new proposals

Dubai: World number one Roger Federer has slammed the series of innovations which the ATP Tour has planned to introduce this year.

ATP President Etienne de Villiers has been on the war path with the ITF as the men's Tour seeks to recast the Masters Series events - introducing innovations such as the round robin format.

Some of the younger players, including Scot Andy Murray have come out strongly against the ATP experimenting with the round robin format for the Masters events.

Federer has shown strong disapproval of the new format by not entering any round robin stops during 2007. And he was equally vocal on Saturday.

"I think they should keep tennis the way it is. I do not have anything against Etienne. He has burnt his hands for sure and it is a very bad situation to be in at this moment," Federer said.

The attempted re-do of the ATP calendar has angered many tournament directors and top executives, with major sponsor Mercedes-Benz even pulling out a sponsorship of $10 million. Turning to on-court affairs, Federer said he was enjoying the evolution of his game.

"First I thought the game was more about being tactical. But now, I think it has become more mental and physical," Federer said after winning his fourth title in five attempts at the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open late on Saturday.

"This switch from tactical to the mental part has been my biggest improvement of the game," the Swiss ace stated.

Federer has been in the news for all the right reasons this week. Last Monday, he broke Jimmy Connors's record of 160 successive weeks as the world's best player.

"I am here to win tournaments and not to break records," he quipped.

Things were not as easy as the 6-4, 6-3 scoreline indicated, especially after Mikhail Youzhny started strongly with an early break for a 2-0 lead.

"He had his chances and I knew that I had to somehow do something better to get him," Federer said.

"I think I reacted very well to it [the challenge of being 0-2 down], and from then on I could play very well and play the big points well," Federer noted.