Djokovic names deciding factor behind tennis stars’ fury after chat with bosses

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Novak Djokovic has explained the reason he believes tennis players are being left unhappy after holding talks with the ATP CEO and president. Issues with changing tennis balls and nightmare schedules have been prevalent throughout the season, with some players forced to play into the early hours. And the world No 1 admitted that TV broadcasting demands would always take precedence over player opinions as he called for the problems to be addressed.

Several players have spoken out against the ATP and WTA this year. Elena Rybakina was among those who put the women’s tennis tour on blast when she finished her Montreal quarter-final match at 3am and had her semi-final match rained off entirely, with organisers postponing it from Saturday to Sunday.

There was more controversy at the recent Paris Masters when play finished after midnight on four of seven nights of the tournament, including a 2:37am finish for Jannik Sinner who withdrew before he was slated to return to the court around 14 hours later. And Djokovic has now given his thoughts on the scheduling issues seen throughout the season.

“In terms of the scheduling, I think, you know, there has been a lot of criticism and a lot of, yeah, basically players complaining about it,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion said ahead of the Davis Cup. “I think that should be addressed in a proper way.”

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While there were complications given how many different governing bodies there are in tennis – the ATP, WTA, ITF and four Grand Slams – Djokovic said there was one common denominator behind the scheduling, TV demands. He continued: “Obviously Davis Cup and ITF is regulated differently from ATP Tour and from Grand Slams.

“You have different governing bodies, different schedules, different broadcasting demands. In the end of the day we know that the TV is the one deciding, fortunately or unfortunately, but there has to be more, I guess, discussions on that as well.”

Djokovic also addressed the concerns with tennis balls after Vasek Pospisil – the man that Djokovic co-founded the Professional Tennis Players Association with – claimed that he tore the Ulnar Collateral Ligament in his elbow after playing with heavy balls during some Challenger events in France.

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“No, I haven’t. I haven’t heard that,” Djokovic said when asked if he’d heard Pospisil’s comments. “I actually saw Vasek just before I came here to see you guys, but I haven’t seen his statement on that.

“But there has been a lot of discussions on the effect of the different balls and basically every week on the joints and the wrist and the shoulders and the elbows. You know, I think someone told me that in terms of injuries this year comparing to other years, you know, drastically has gone up. So yeah, in terms of the balls, I absolutely agree there should be some discussion on that.”

During the recent Paris Masters, Djokovic confirmed that he had spoken with two figureheads of the ATP and he reiterated his comments on Wednesday, claiming they were thinking of ways to make a chance. Djokovic added: “I actually spoke about that with Andrea Gaudenzi, the ATP president, and Massimo, who is the CEO, in Paris during the Paris-Bercy week.

“I shared my opinion and my views. Obviously they are thinking about various different options and ways of how to regulate and how to make it better for the players and prevent injuries.”

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