German veteran Tommy Haas on Wednesday joined Novak Djokovic in seeking a recognisable tennis off-season with a call for the Australian Open to be moved to as late as February.

Haas, 31, echoed the thoughts of world number three Djokovic as the pair played at the Kooyong Classic, being held as ATP players return to action after little more than a month of down time from 2009.

Djokovic won the pair's first-round encounter at the eight-man special event 6-2, 6-3 one day after soliciting support for a minimum two-month close season for the men's game.

Haas would take it a step further.

"Maybe the season should be done by the middle of October, latest. Everybody is coming down here really early. Some people leave right away after Christmas," he said ahead of next week's opening Grand Slam of the season.

"If the top 100 players would come together, we could come up with a schedule pretty quickly and tell exactly how we would like it.

"We would still have the biggest tournaments, and the ones we like and the ones that are being watched all around the world.

"The question is whether it (the season start) should be a little bit later. Somewhere like the middle or end of February would be a nice start.

"Then you could still have the season finish beginning of November, and you wouldn't have to come down here until maybe end of January beginning of February," said Haas.

ATP Player Council

Djokovic, a member of the ATP Player Council headed by Roger Federer, said that time off-court during the Open will be filled in part with closed-door meetings on how to find a workable schedule for players, sponsors and television interests.

"We will have some talks here in Australia that will be crucial for upcoming years," said the 22-year-old Serb.

"I'm happy that all the top players are willing to participate in these talks and try to contribute and fight for their own right.

"Unfortunately, something will have to be sacrificed in order for players to feel better."

Djokovic said that an idea floating around for a World Cup of tennis -- 32 nations playing once every two years to replace the annual Davis Cup -- was an idea from the Player Council.

But he stressed: "It's all very fresh, we didn't decide to put anything on official terms because we have to consider other sides as well.

"The main point is that we are trying to make the sport improve and get better, and players are most important.

"This is the bottom line. Without sponsors there wouldn't be a tournament; without tournaments, you know, players wouldn't exist.

"But still, players are the ones who are making the show and their opinions have to be greatly considered.

"This time I think that slowly things will get better. But these are things that cannot happen overnight."