London - Disappointed James Blake Monday issued a plea for a reduction in the ATP schedule after crashing to his worst defeat at Wimbledon.

The American who played the final on grass at Queen's club eight days ago against Andy Murray, was bundled out in straight sets by Italy's Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-4, 7-6
(7-5) in the first round, duplicating his 2005 showing.

The defeat left the 29-year-old puzzling over what went wrong - and he thinks that a killed calendar is not doing any player any good.

"Fewer Masters, possibly," Blake said when asked if cutting the number of required Tour elite events could be a solution.

"I know how important those tournaments are to the Tour. But I think (we need) possibly fewer tournaments and a real off season. You look at how all the other sports, the major sports, they get months off, not one month."

Blake was speaking in the wake of the injury withdrawal at the weekend of defending champion and world number one Rafael Nadal, victim of knee tendinitis which has forced him home to rest for an unspecified period of time.

"In a sport where you need to be training, there's no real pre-season," said the American team sports fan. "We're at a Slam three weeks into the year (Australian Open), so you can't warm up into a year.

"You don't have 20 or 30 games of pre-season like in baseball."

Blake said that playing all eight Masters 1000 events as well as the four majors already added up to 16 weeks per year of tennis before any other optional events were counted.

And he said that the forced march had taken a toll even on a prime physical specimen like the muscular 23-year-old Nadal.

"He's only 22, but he's basically been on tour since he was about 16 years old. I'm probably not supposed to say anything about the schedule or about the ATP in that way, but it's just tough for guys.

"There are not really not many ways to mess with the schedule, to take tournaments away - but it would definitely help the players' careers be a little bit longer.

"I've been on the Player Council. I know how difficult those meetings are, how much the tournaments want to hold on to their spots. But for the players' longevity, something should be done."

Blake is undecided on his plans, with doubles still to go at Wimbledon and a Davis Cup in Croatia the week after the July 5 end of the major. (dpa)