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The Serbian resigns as president of the players’ association at the weekend and forms a new body. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal condemn this step.
The Serbian is the big favorite at the US Open. Not only for this reason, he is currently not in the conversation.
Photo: Keystone
He resigns from the players council and founds his own association.
Photo: Getty
Before the US Open starting Monday in New York it was a report that put the tennis world in crisis over the weekend. Novak Djokovic, world number one, resigned as president of the ATP Players Council – and founded his own players association together with Canadian Vasek Pospisil: the «Association of professional tennis players». More than 30 players have already joined it. And there should be more, much more. He hoped, the 33-year-old said, that most of the top 500 singles and top 200 doubles would join the new players’ association.
They have already announced on Twitter that neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal enjoyed this project. “I think we live in a time where we must remain calm and unite,” the Spaniard tweeted. Federer agreed with his tennis colleague: “These are uncertain and challenging times. But I think it is very important for us to be united as players. “
Now respected American sports journalist Jon Wertheim posted a player council letter on his Twitter account joining the two Kevin Anderson, Sam Querrey, Yen-Hsun Lu, Jürgen Melzer, Bruno Soares and Colin Dowdeswel. judge all the players and find clear words against Djokovic’s PTPA.
“An association of new players and the ATP cannot coexist.”
“As representatives of the Players Council, we want to announce that we are not in favor of the creation of a new Players Association. We think this is a bad time to go down this road. That undermines the chances of our new leadership to realize their vision of the sport, ”writes the ATP players council to tennis professionals. “An association of new players and the ATP cannot coexist. However, we respect the decision of each player. We would like to report on our position and make it clear that everyone is aware of the implications. “
It is not denied that some things have to change and improve. But the new management, which took office this year, is already working hard on it. But due to the corona pandemic, there would have been new unforeseen challenges. And the PTPA would not have answers to these either. On the other hand, new questions would arise.
What if the tournaments were against the new association? What are the specific plans of the PTPA? Why is there no business plan? What is it supposed to bring to players anyway? What if it goes wrong? How are players protected? Who do you get legal advice from? And who pays for all this?
The last word has yet to be said
Djokovic’s approach is also criticized. The ATP players council also asks Federer why he was not contacted in advance, but rather caught off guard. «We are not against the players. We are not against a one-size-fits-all approach. We defend all players, but don’t take this path with such high risk and so little knowledge. We are against this proposal, against the association of new players, because we do not see how the players should benefit from it and they are questioning our lives and our safety on the circuit ”, concludes the letter. The last words of this struggle for power should not have been spoken yet.
