Federer no fan of round-robins

MELBOURNE, Jan 17 (Reuters) World number one Roger Federer wants the round-robin format being trialled at several ATP tournaments this year to be scrapped by 2008.

''I don't think the players like it that much,'' the Swiss said today after reaching the third round of the Australian Open.

''From my end, I'm not a round-robin guy. I'm not playing one of these events. I'm happy about that this year. I hope they're not going to be around in '08.'' The ATP is trialling three different round-robin systems at some tournaments during 2007. The 48 and 24-man draws are still to be tested.

The hybrid format which was introduced at the Adelaide International earlier this month is likely to be dumped next year after ATP chairman Etienne de Villiers admitted the experiment had been a flop.

''I will be very surprised if it (32-draw hybrid) survives,'' de Villiers told reporters in the run up to the start of the Australian Open.

''It was very creative but was very confusing as well.'' The round-robin system was introduced so that top draw players would play more than one match even if they were beaten in their first contest.

Under the hybrid format used in Adelaide, there were 32 players, eight of whom attempted to qualify for the 24-man round-robin section featuring eight three-man groups.

With the Adelaide tournament disrupted by bad weather, it created havoc in the schedule. To clear a backlog, several elimination and qualifying matches took place after the first round of the round-robin.

''Adelaide came back with a whole bunch of interesting ideas,'' said de Villiers.

''Every experiment you do, you are always surprised by what you learn.'' REUTERS DH ND1802