ATP players beefing with CEO De Villiers over schedule change

The ATP tour has 9 ATP Masters Series (AMS) tournaments in its yearly schedule, which are the most important tournaments after the 4 Grand Slams.

The ATP CEO Etienne "Douche" de Villiers (I call him DDV) is trying to force a change for the 2009 season that will reduce the number AMS tourneys to 8, and the number of clay-court AMS from 3 to 2. The likely result is that the Monaco & Hamburg clay AMS will be cancelled, and the Madrid AMS will switch from indoor hard court to clay.

DDV seems to be a classic incompetent arrogant. DDV is a marketing guy, I think from Disney. DDV doesn't know tennis. But DDV tries these random experiments which annoy players & fans. DDV is incompetent at tennis, but arrogant to think that in his supposed marketing genius that "he knows best" what to do, without considering the opinions of the actual tennis experts. I hate incompetent arrogants, they are the worst type of bosses/managers. Reference the Gee Dubbz/Cheney crew, who don't really know the difference between Sunni & Shia, & then think they can invade Iraq & easily form a stable democracy government. Incompetent arrogants are dangerous to their organizations & society.

There was a controversy a few weeks ago in the Las Vegas with the Round Robin format, which was eliminated. If I recall correctly, the players said the RR format, DDV's idea, should be eliminated, without saying DDV is incompetent.

What's interesting is that players are now finally calling out DDV on his douchery. Check these quotes from here by these players. Federer, Ljubicic, & Davydenko are mild-mannered guys not prone to "beefing", so it's great to see them Schiavoing DDV here. Check the quotes:

Federer: "They don't seem to understand what we have to say, so we would just like to address this issue through the media for a change... This is a scream for help. We're just not happy with the last few months. The players' meeting in Miami was a big disappointment for all of us... We had many issues on the table and we couldn't really discuss them at all. Decisions are being taken very soon for 2009, and we just like to have a little say as well I've had many meetings with ET [Etienne de Villiers]. He listens but then goes and does things his way. I wish he would listen more... We've gone from Mark Miles doing nothing to ET doing too much."

Ljubicic: "It's disappointing to see [Monte Carlo is] going to be downgraded... We don't want it to come to a situation where we say we don't want to play... ET didn't know much tennis when he took the job...He's been willing to learn, but it seems like the advice from those around him has not been that good.... Are they afraid of U.S. tournaments? It was never an idea to touch anything over there. European players are the ones paying the price."

Davydenko: "Players know what players want...We like Monte Carlo. That's why we play it. I don't think ET has even seen our letter... ET says, 'trust me'... He wants too much trust, you can only believe five or ten percent of his decisions."

DDV doesn't want beef with Fed especially! Fed is the Best Sportsman of the Decade & a UN dignitary! I believe Fed could call for DDV to get fired if he wanted to, the Board of Directors would probably follow Fed's suggestion.