A WAGER was struck between two writers yesterday, in which the one who has travelled the circuit for 40 years invested in his belief that, at the present degenerative rate, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick will not be competing at the top of the game in five years. If his forecast bears fruit, then the sport really will have torn itself apart from the inside.

The apparently effortless brilliance of Roger Federer aside, who at the top of tennis in its present form of violence, to use Andre Agassi’s description, more vividly represents the dynamism and electricity that the sport is so desperate to sell to the world’s youth than these titans of Spain and the United States?

And yet tennis is happy to flog them on a diet of disparate objectives, self-interest and a schedule that has borne no relation to common sense for years. For the third event in succession for which he was scheduled, Nadal, 19, has had to bail out — he travelled to one to say sorry, would have done so at the second had they not turned him down and was here, at the third, ready to play before further injuries surfaced. Nadal spent two hours yesterday glad-handing sponsors, which is credit to him and a gesture the authorities milked.

A far better gesture would be for the tennis family to appoint one of its kind with the powers to settle on a circuit that appreciates the wellbeing of the family members, to craft a calendar that gives equal prominence to all surfaces and to devise the same ranking system for men and women that is transparent and understandable.

Everyone accepts that the four grand-slam tournaments are the crème de la crème, the prizes coveted above all else. The Davis Cup and Fed Cup, bedrocks of the International Tennis Federation and its remit of spreading tennis the length and breadth of the globe, are, though, in need of a remodelling that more accurately reflects their unique stature.

Who in their right mind should put up with a schedule that starts the year with a grand slam in Australia, sends players scuttling to either Europe or the US, has three Masters Series men’s tournaments within five weeks on clay with the French Open in close pursuit, before giving everyone only two weeks on grass before Wimbledon, the prince of championships? Then it is five weeks on bone-jarring American hard courts in unbearable humidity before the US Open rears its head with its malfunctioning, TV-dominated scheduling.

It is only four years ago that Pat Rafter, of Australia, whose game was based on flowing athleticism, gave up the unequal struggle at the age of 28 and settled for more golf and time with his young family.

We can but hope that such a situation is distant for Nadal and Roddick, though I recall walking through Heathrow customs on the way home from the Great Britain Davis Cup tie in Switzerland in September, straight into Roddick, who was stopping over having played for more than four hours in a final rubber against Olivier Rochus, of Belgium, a match that drew hardly a note anywhere else in the world. He said he had never felt so mentally and physically exhausted and who really cared?

Roddick responded to my request for a few words last week on having to withdraw from the Masters Cup by saying that he was “too down to speak”. One hoped it didn’t mean the injury was worse than feared and that he will be fit for a full schedule — perish the prospect — in 2006. He has to look after what is best for him, for few else will.

We are attending a Masters Cup with very few masters and what more alarming wake-up call does tennis want than that?

THE FIVE WAYS TO A BETTER SPORT

1, A commissioner, as in golf, should be appointed with the authority to govern the sport and decide on all matters concerning rules and regulations to end the territorial squabbles that have consistently hampered progress.

2, Although it has understandable reasons to want to remain in January — the weather, school holidays, etc — the Australian Open should be persuaded to move back so that a proper momentum can be built towards the first grand slam of the year. There must be three weeks between the French Open and Wimbledon so grass becomes a truly protected species.

3, The nine men’s Masters Series should be replaced by a Super Six, with men and women competing together, two on hard courts, two on clay, one on grass, one indoors, each over ten days. One of each should be played in the build-up to the four grand-slam tournaments.

4, No player should be allowed to play three consecutive weeks, allowing for full recovery. A close season of six weeks should be built into the calendar and those competing in any designated “exhibitions” during that time should be penalised with omission from their next scheduled tour event and loss of ranking status.

5, The Davis Cup and Fed Cup competitions should be stand-alone events, either on an annual or biennial basis, with eight nations in the finals. Qualification would take place in weeks freed up by the allocation of fewer tournaments.