"Media or players expected things to happen a bit quicker on the PTPA side, but that's just not possible" - Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic provided an update on the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) during a media interaction ahead of the ATP Finals in Turin. Djokovic revealed that it has not been easy for the PTPA to achieve their goals at the rate people expect them to.
The PTPA was formed by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil with an aim to promote equality in tennis. They felt the sport mostly catered to the demands of the top-ranked players and left very little for those ranked outside the top 100.
One of the PTPA's main goals is to improve prize money distribution in tournaments so that lower-ranked players can make a living. However, the Djokovic-led organization has met quite a few roadblocks, with the ATP initially refusing to recognize their efforts and several top players, including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, opposing the creation of a breakaway players union.
The PTPA was formally founded earlier this year, registered as a not-for-profit corporation, and, more importantly, "acknowledged" by the PTPA.
Despite the positive steps taken by the organization, Novak Djokovic feels the PTPA is lagging behind with regard to its long-term goals.
"PTPA is not where we want to be in terms of the long-term goals," Djokovic was quoted as saying by Tennis Now. "There is still a long way ahead of us, but we also did not expect to establish ourselves as a system and as a structure within the tennis ecosystem so quickly."
Djokovic pointed out that the media and other entities expected almost instant results from the PTPA, which was unrealistic as the ATP had initially refused to recognize the body.
"Maybe media, or players or someone else expected things to happen a bit quicker on the PTPA side, but it's just not possible, because when the PTPA was founded it was not acknowledged by really any other governing body or association in tennis, so that's kind of the case still, in tennis, and that makes our journey a bit more challenging," Djokovic explained.
However, the World No. 1 asserted that the PTPA is heading in the right direction, with more and more people being appointed in leadership and executive positions. Djokovic also revealed that the PTPA intends to make some important announcements in the near future.
"We are not stopping here, we are going along, we are employing more people in the structure, in the leadership and executive positions, people with experience," Djokovic said.
"And we'll be making some announcements soon, so we are going along and we are determining what the different strategies may be depending on the reaction we get from everyone involved in the ecosystem," he added.
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"We want to, as we said all along, be acknowledged, respected and accepted" - Novak Djokovic on behalf of the PTPA
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In contrast to Vasek Pospisil's claims earlier this year, Novak Djokovic insisted that the PTPA is yet to be recognized as a "100% player association". Djokovic stressed that players need representation in the sport, something that has been lacking so far.
"We want to, as we said all along, to be acknowledged, respected and accepted as a 100% player association in this sport because we need that players need to have 100% representation, which they don't at the moment," Novak Djokovic said.