The professional Tennis players Association (PTPA) is here to stay and according to Novak Djokovic it the right time for players, particularly the younger lot to join the upstart Association.
It is almost three years since Djokovic, John Isner and Vasek Pospisil unveiled the ATP rival player council on the eve of the 2020 US Open. This was certainly a big development but the news drew criticism from the veteran statesmen of the game including the other 3 of the Big 4 members i.e. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Murray with the trio lamenting that the divisions will hurt the game after the formation of new block in tennis.
However, the PTPA – tennis’ truly breakaway Union – countered the opposition to their idea by insisting that are not “forming parallel tours” and that their “goal is to try to secure support from the players.”
Membership uptake remained slow in the beginning but earlier in 2023 WTA stars Paula Badosa and Ons Jabeur signed up with its first-ever executive committee.
The 23-time Grand Slam Champion who heads the player council recently released a video statement from the PTPA platform.
“The time has been ripe for quite a while, to be honest, but in terms of the organisation and structure of the PTA, I think time is ripe more than it ever was [to join the PTPA],” he said.
“We have a great team of people that are part of the PTPA, we are growing in numbers with team members who are trying to make sure we perfect our structure and management best to the best of our abilities so that we show to the players primarily, but also to the whole tennis ecosystem that we are credible that is not going anywhere.
“We are going to evolve, we are going to develop, we are going to grow and we are going to fight for the players’ rights of having a more significant seat at the table of the decision-making process for whatever area of topic we are talking about in the tennis world, both men and women.”
Hubert Hurkacz, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Saisai Zheng are the other players that have voiced their support for the player body and are also make the members of the executive board. The 2023 Wimbledon runner-up admitted that they are facing some challenges as the players fear legal implications.
He added: “As a player, I understand what players are going through. I’ve been playing professional tennis for 20 years. I’ve been on the council. I’ve been the president of the council for years so I know exactly how things are moving around, how things are function and I feel it has been an absolute necessity to have an organisation that is representing only 100 percent players’ rights. Now we have it.
“It has been a quest for 20-plus years for different generations of players and for various reasons and factors, they haven’t succeeded in creating the player organisation. But now we have it and I invite all the players to recognise it.
“The biggest concern from the players is that if they sign up and support PTPA they will have legal problems with the ATP and WTA, [but] that is not the case and we have already communicated that internally with players in the locker rooms and also officially through communication via emails and meetings.
“Especially with the younger generations, they don’t want to risk too much. They think they want to be conservative, they want to focus on playing matches.
“They don’t want to lose what they’ve earned or what they are part of, which I understand and I don’t judge that but by supporting PTPA, you’re actually supporting yourself. You’re supporting your future.”