Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have both made it to the US Open 2023 semifinals, with many believing that the duo will lock horns in the final. With Djokovic and Alcaraz playing each other regularly this year, they have developed a mutual respect for each other. The World No.2 is so impressed with his young rival that he has a plan to make him a member of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).
Now, the PTPA was formed in 2020 with Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil as its original founders. The aim of the association is to give players a greater voice on the ATP Tour and take part in decisions that positively affect even lower-ranked players on the Tour. Djokovic expects to bring up the proposal when he plays a celebrity golf tournament alongside Alcaraz after the US Open 2023.
Novak Djokovic has an uphill task at hand
Novak Djokovic has been able to bring the likes of the now-retired John Isner, Matteo Berrettini, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Sam Querrey, Hubert Hurkacz, and Diego Schwartzman on board from the ATP Tour for the PTPA. However, many top players continue to refuse to join an organization which is still considered a ‘rebel’ one in more than one way.
Recently, the PTPA was credited with pressuring ATP to come out with its latest initiative, Baseline. Baseline is ATP’s new pay structure which backs lower-ranked players to gain a minimum wage ($75,000-$300,000) and supports those who fail to participate in tournaments due to injuries or rising expenses.
So Novak Djokovic is hopeful of at least bringing Carlos Alcaraz on board. Seeing Alcaraz’s maturity at the age of 20 and status as among the world’s top 2 players, the Spaniard would be the biggest catch for the PTPA. In an interview with Forbes, Djokovic was quoted as saying about having a word with Alcaraz about this –
“I haven’t done it with Carlos yet, but I’ve been planning to. We’ve been facing each other too much on the court and we haven’t had a chance to relax a little bit. We did kind of have a funny little talk after the finals of Cincinnati and we’re going to play a golf round together eventually so maybe that’s going to be an ideal few hours for me to spend with him and have a little chat.”
However, convincing Carlos Alcaraz might be easier said than done even if Novak Djokovic might have higher praises for him remaining. Controversially, Alcaraz spoke publicly in favor of the ATP Tour giving up a large stake in the men’s game to the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Spaniard believes that with that move, players will get paid what they deserve in tennis while claiming that he doesn’t mind travelling to the Middle East country often in the future if required to play professionally.
Djokovic lauds Alcaraz for being ‘most complete player’
Ever since Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon 2023 final, the latter has lauded the youngster multiple times for being a ‘complete player’. Recently, when Rafael Nadal’s uncle and ex-coach Toni Nadal slammed the current generation of players for not keeping up with an ‘aging’ Novak Djokovic, the Serbian hit back.
He said that Carlos Alcaraz would have won championships in the same manner if he was playing 10-15 years ago too on the ATP Tour. This is due to the fact that he can attack and defend equally well and that tennis keeps evolving.
