Novak Djokovic-led PTPA welcomes on board tennis greats Kim Clijsters, Sania Mirza & Marcos Baghdatis
Novak Djokovic-led Profesional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) recently onboarded former players such as Kim Clijsters, Sania Mirza, and Marcos Baghdatis.
Founded in 2019 by Djokovic and Canada's Vasek Pospisil, the PTPA aims to promote the interests of tennis players and fill the potholes in the framework currently managed by the ATP, WTA, and ITF.
With players like Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, and Hubert Hurkacz already members of the association, the PTPA recently announced the induction of Clijsters, Mirza, and Baghdatis in top roles.
Former World No. 1 Clijsters has joined as a 'Board of Champions' member. She has won three US Opens and an Australian Open title in her singles career. The Belgian also has two doubles trophies -- Wimbledon and French Open -- to her name. She announced her retirement last year.
Clijsters will be joined by Mirza in the same role, as announced by the Djokovic-led association. In her trophy cabinet, Mirza has six Grand Slam titles, including a Wimbledon, a US Open, and an Australian Open title in doubles and an Australian Open, a French Open, and a US Open in mixed doubles. She quit tennis earlier this year in February.
Former World No. 8 Baghdatis will take up the responsibility of PTPA's ambassador. He retired from professional tennis in 2019. Competing against Roger Federer in the 2006 Australian Open final remains his best performance at the Majors.
"Younger generations don't want to risk too much" - Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic, not so long ago, urged his colleagues to join the PTPA. In a video released by the association, the Serb invited all the professionals to recognize his organization, saying:
"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 organization. But now we have it and I invite all the players to recognize it."
The World No. 2 further addressed the younger generation and urged them to not be hesitant in making the decision.
"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," he said. 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."
The 36-year-old further dismissed any possibility of legal woes for the players joining the PTPA, saying:
"The biggest concern for the players is if they sign up and support PTPA, they’ll have issues legally with ATP and WTA… that’s not the case."