Serbia’s
Novak Djokovic has revealed that he does not with
some of the things mentioned in the lawsuit filed against governing bodies in tennis. The
Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and 22 players have filed the
complaint against ATP,
WTA, International Tennis Federation (ITF), and
International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Tuesday on charges of
anticompetitive business practices, monopolizing professional tennis, and
systemic abuse.
Amongst the list of players who filed the complaint includes
the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, America’s Reilly
Opelka, current world number 76 Corentin Moutet and 2014 Wimbledon doubles
champion Vasek Pospisil.
Interestingly, PTPA’s co-founder Djokovic has now been
quoted in a report by AP where he stated that he does not agree with some of the things mentioned in the lawsuit filed on behalf of his own organisation, along with a
number of players. The former world number one also expressed optimism that all
bodies can come together and work for the better of the game in the near future
by solving these issues.
“I’ve never been a fan and supporter of division in our
sport,” he said. “But I’ve always fought for better representation and
influence of and positioning of the players globally in our sport, which I
think is still not where I think it should be, and where most of the players
think it should be, not just in terms of prize money, but in terms of many
other points that have been also stated in that document. I really hope that
all the governing bodies, including PTPA, will come together and solve these
issues. This is a classic lawsuit, so lawyers to lawyers, type of situation. So
to be quite frank with you, there are things that I agree with in the lawsuit,
and then there are also things that I don’t agree with. And I found that maybe
some wording was quite strong in there, but I guess the legal team knows what
they are doing and what kind of terminology they’re supposed to use in order to
get the right effect.”