In the absence of Rafael Nadal and the retirement of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic has become the biggest face of tennis. Djokovic is winning fans over by the day with his extroverted and charitable personality off the court as much as his ever-improving game on it. Arguably, the Serbian has made the biggest impact on the game with the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).
According to Novak Djokovic, PTPA is not a rebel or a breakaway organisation. It exists to give players a greater say in the decision-making of the ATP as well as a fighting chance when it comes to having financial security from playing the game. But even then, his 2 big rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal did not join his cause and now Novak Djokovic has opened up about it.
Novak Djokovic hints at Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
In an interview with Forbes recently on the sidelines the US Open 2023, Novak Djokovic admitted that his biggest challenge in the last 3 years has been to bring in top-ranked players into the PTPA. Although there has been an increase in support directly and indirectly from ATP Tour players, lot of work needs to be done.
Djokovic did not directly take Federer and Nadal’s names but has now talked about them failing to understand his point that the PTPA will be beneficial for all in the long run.
“[With] the top players its toughest because you can imagine there’s more layers to [go through to get to] them than any other lower ranked player and they feel they have a lot to lose, which is really what we’ve been trying to explain that that’s not the case. The players really have more to gain.”
In 2020, when the PTPA’s launch happened, Rafael Nadal was the first high-profile tennis name to actually slam Novak Djokovic on social media rather frankly. At the time, he had said,
“The world is living a difficult and complicated situation. I personally believe these are times to be calm and work all of us together in the same direction. It is time for unity, not for separation,” Nadal said on social media.
“These are moments where big things can be achieved as long as the world of tennis is united. We all, players, tournaments and governing bodies, have to work together. We have a bigger problem and separation and disunion is definitely not the solution.”
The timing of Roger Federer’s response was fascinating as he literally jumped to defend Rafael Nadal. This was his response to the Spaniard –
I agree @RafaelNadal. These are uncertain and challenging times, but I believe it’s critical for us to stand united as players, and as a sport, to pave the best way forward. https://t.co/foAmiLVrdV
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) August 29, 2020
Now, at the time, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were both the biggest members of the ATP Players Council, which exists for similar reasons like the PTPA. According to Novak Djokovic, the duo felt they had more to lose than gain by joining him and rather decided to maintain the status quo rather than rebel against the establishment.
However, they were not the only ones to side with the ATP as Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem too did not join Novak Djokovic despite having good, personal relations with him. Still, Djokovic is hopeful that his newly-established camaraderie with World No.2, Carlos Alcaraz might help him convince the Spaniard to enter the PTPA.
The PTPA has been lauded recently for apparently ‘pressurizing’ the ATP to increase the basic pay for lower-ranked players and give them as well as those who are injured or not privileged, financial security to sustain themselves for long in the game.
When Djokovic picked Alcaraz over Federer and Nadal
Although Roger Federer did break the ice and invited Novak Djokovic for his retirement at the Laver Cup 2022, it could very well be that the Serbian hasn’t forgotten the PTPA fallout entirely. Djokovic and his coach-cum-2001 Wimbledon champion, Goran Ivanisevic have on occasion not spoken in favour of Federer and Nadal. In fact after the Wimbledon 2023 final in which Djokovic lost to Alcaraz, the 23-time Grand Slam champion compared the youngster to his two rivals.
Novak Djokovic claimed that Carlos Alcaraz is a ‘complete’ player and someone who he never faced before in terms of skill and intensity. Djokovic feels that Alcaraz is a good mix of himself, Federer and Nadal and now claims that the 20-year-old would have won many championships had he played in the 2000s and 2010s era. On the other hand, Ivanisevic had once claimed that Nadal did not stand a chance to beat Djokovic in the French Open 2020 final. But the reverse happened, after which the coach admitted that he may have got overambitious in his prediction.
