Shanghai - Two Spaniards staked their claim on inclusion in the Davis Cup finals squad with Shanghai Masters wins Monday as the nation's top man Rafael Nadal and American Andy Roddick warned that time is running out for the ATP to build a proper off-season for exhausted players. Number 14 Tommy Robredo and 16th ranked David Ferrer both beat Frenchmen in the first round, with Robredo stopping Michael Llodra 6-1, 6-4 and David Ferrer eliminating Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3.
the top seed Nadal, twice an injury victim in 2009, Roddick's plea for time off at the end of the year.
"It's impossible to play from 1st of January and finish 5th of December," said the Spaniard who will lead his team into a second straight Davis final December 4-6 against the Czechs.
"It's (now) impossible to be playing like I did the last five years, playing a lot of matches and being all the time 100 percent without problems.
"I have been number one or two on the number of matches played. I was OK but sooner or later, it will be impossible."
Nadal said admitted that changing a crowded schedule is a huge task.
"Everybody is working hard to try to change that, I know it's difficult because it's a lot of interests there, a lot of tournaments there.
"It's difficult to say when you stop or when you start (the season). I don't know the solution, but that's must be changed - and soon."
Roddick said the same in harsher terms: "We have tried to make our voice heard for a long time. And we end up finishing a little bit later now.
"I'm not talking about three months here, I'm talking about another two weeks. I'm not looking for an off season like other sports where it's three, four months. I don't think that works in tennis, especially where you have different parts of the world that want to see it.
"(A strike or boycott) is the last thing that anyone wants to do, but, you get pushed against a wall. I don't think any of us wants to do that, because even more so than feeling a responsibility to the powers that be in tennis, we feel a responsibility to the fans.
"The last thing we want to do is cause something, let's say, (at) the year end championships where, (if) you bag that, (it's) the ATP tour's biggest moneymaker."
In the first round, James Blake survived 27 aces from Ivo Karlovic to post a 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory to line up against Nadal.
Blake, who parted ways with his coach of nearly two decades recently, needed just under two hours to hold off the biggest server in the game, advancing into his showdown with Nadal as the towering Croatian Karlovic double-faulted for the third time on a drizzly afternoon.
Blake and world number two Nadal stand 3-3 in their career series, with the Spaniard winning the last three including a week ago in the Beijing second round.
Weather was marginal for the start of the Masters 1000 which was formerly played in Madrid and won a year ago by Andy Murray.
But the Scot is sitting out the week with a wrist injury while world number one Roger Federer is missing the ATP Asian swing to rest.
