The new chief of the ruling body of men's tennis (ATP) should make communicating with players a top priority, world number one Rafael Nadal said on Monday at the US Open in New York.

ATP executive chairman and president Etienne de Villiers is stepping down in December after 3-1/2 years in the role.

The South African's time in charge included the introduction of Hawkeye technology and increasing prize money, but also a high-profile court case over plans to downgrade a tournament in Hamburg.

In recent months, the top three players, Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, have all been elected to the Player Council and Nadal is keen to see De Villiers's successor listen to the players more than the South African did.

"For me, the most important thing, first of all, is a little bit more communication than the past," Nadal said.

"The second thing is (for it to be) a person who knows a little bit about the tennis. And a person who wants to talk about (issues) with the persons who know tennis well.

"Because Etienne, well, (he) had some new ideas. Wasn't bad, because always when you have a change, you can be wrong, but you can (also) be right.

"But the wrong thing is, (he) never talks (to) the other people, to consult other people who really know tennis."

While Federer said it was too soon to discuss De Villiers's successor, Nadal said the replacement should consult as many people as possible.

"In my opinion, a lot of people know tennis," Nadal said. "Tour managers (have been) here more than 10 years and (they) never talk with these guys who know (what) the problems were in tennis for the last few years. I think they know better which problems they have than...Etienne."

Former world number one Andy Roddick said the schedule was another important topic.

"We've been talking about schedule length for a long time with not a lot of success," Roddick said.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily September 3, 2008)