Ryan Harrison defends Novak Djokovic-led PTPA, says "it's not about if your favorite player is Roger, Rafa, Novak or Andy"
Ryan Harrison recently took to Twitter to express support for the Novak Djokovic-led PTPA, which aims to protect and promote the interests of lower-ranked players. According to Harrison, the issues that the PTPA is raising goes much beyond whether the fans support one player over another.
The PTPA made headlines earlier this week by appointing an Executive Director and Advisory Board. That prompted the ATP to roll out a statement of their own, where they suggested that the creation of the Novak Djokovic-led outfit could potentially lead to divisions in the sport.
That was followed by Djokovic questioning the governing body's "establishment mentality". Dani Vallverdu then issued a statement on behalf of the ATP Players Council, where he expressed his displeasure with the PTPA's actions and claims.
But when the ATP thanked Vallverdu for "representing his fellow players' interests", Ryan Harrison decided to speak up with some strong words.
Harrison wrote that the ATP was "incredibly misleading" in its endorsement of Vallverdu's statement, and insisted that the sport still wasn't close to a "successful system". The American added that there was lack of transperancy not only with respect to Grand Slams and Masters 1000 events, but with lowly ATP 250 events as well.
"This goes all the way across the board, from player prize money to success for tournaments outside of Masters 1000 and Grand Slams (many 250s are struggling to break even )," Harrison wrote.
Ryan Harrison then beckoned the fans of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to not side with their favorites and instead look at whether the ATP has done its bit. Harrison is not happy with the way the ATP conducts its operations, and went as far as to call the men's tennis organization "a broken system".
"The bottom line is this isn't personal," Harrison wrote. "It's not about if your favorite player is Roger, Rafa, Novak or Andy. It's not about if the people on the ATP council are trying hard. This is a broken system. This is a system that has proven incapable of being successful and has been left far behind from other sports. Every sport is adjusting all the time to become more marketable and tennis has failed."
"It's not about if your favorite player is Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray" - Ryan Harrison
Ryan Harrison also echoed Novak Djokovic's earlier sentiment, where he claimed that "transparency" and "fairness" were the PTPA's biggest objectives. The ATP's unbridled support to Vallverdu for speaking against the association clearly didn't sit well with the American, who also gave an analogy to illustrate his point.
"The players want transparency and to be legally represented by an association who doesn't have to simultaneously represent the other side," Harrison said. "If you were in a courtroom and you were on trial, would you want your defense attorney also representing prosecution?"
"Wouldn't that be insane and and flat out laughable," he added. "If the person on trial asked to be represented without bias or conflict, but their 'joint' representing party said, 'No, no, no' wouldn't that be a red flag?"
The former World No. 40 went on to allege that the Grand Slams act completely on their own accord, without considering the ramifications of their actions. Harrison cited how the FFT had unilaterally pushed the start of Roland Garros 2021 by a week, which in turn affected many players' schedules leading into the grass season.
"Lastly but most importantly, the Grand Slams operating completely on their own with no legal obligation to listen to anything the ATP or players have to say. (as demonstrated when Roland Garros moved their date last year without a single player knowing this was even a possibility)," Harrison continued.
At the end of his statement, Ryan Harrison claimed that no player in the PTPA wanted to break away from the ATP tour. He also suggested that they have enough legal representatives to verify whether the men's governing body is giving them a fair deal or not.
"There is not a single player in the PTPA that wants to dissolve or sink the Tour," Harrison said. "We want fair.... And if we are currently getting fair, then someone who solely represents us will advise us that we are currently getting fair. (but let's be honest, Thats not the case which is why this has turned into such an ordeal)."