The president of the Professional Tennis Players Association, Novak Djokovic, has once again criticized the present ATP and WTA structures for not giving players enough power to make decisions.
Together with Canadian tennis star Vasek Pospisil, Djokovic established the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) in 2019. The two joined together to draw attention to and address the injustices that fellow tour workers experience.
The top performers who have so far joined the PTPA in its attempt to put players’ interests first include Paula Badosa, Hubert Hurkacz, and Ons Jabeur.
Djokovic frequently engages in the process of addressing and convincing other players to sign up with the PTPA. Most recently, he discussed how athletes are often denied the opportunity to voice their concerns.
The Serb expressed his thoughts in a recent interview and said: “Players get the shorter end of the stick 90 plus percent of the time. Why? Just because the system is structured and founded in such a way that doesn’t allow players to, you know, actually have a decision-making role.”
The 36-year-old said he was well aware of the shortcomings in the system because he had presided over the ATP council for more than six years.
He added: “The fact that I mean both in ATP and WTA governance, you have 50 percent of ATP and WTA belongs to players and 50 percent to tournaments. And in most of the cases, you’re always going to have a conflict of interest.”
Djokovic concluded his discussion and said: “If you actually go to the very structure and the system that is in place, I was part of the council and president of the council for six or seven years, so I understand how things work.”
The current structure of tennis does not allow players to truly participate in the decision making process. @DjokerNole explains why this is and why the PTPA needs to exist to combat this reality. pic.twitter.com/La5ZcrztL7
— Professional Tennis Players Association (@ptpaplayers) October 15, 2023
Novak Djokovic in 2023
WLWWWWWWWW Ranked no.1, the Serbian played his last match on the 15th of September when he beat world no.26 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3 6-4 in the Rubber 2 of the Davis Cup (draw).
At the moment, during this season the Serbian achieved a 46-5 record. Djokovic has won 5 titles in 2023 in Adelaide, Australian Open, French Open, Cincinnati and U.S. Open. Djokovic reached the final in Wimbledon.
Djokovic has scheduled to play next in Paris (Rolex Paris Masters). He will start the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 30th of October.
