Category: PTPA

Todd Woodbridge Berates Djokovic’s Players Association for Lack of Inclusivity

Tennis ace Novak Djokovic has carried on with his plans to form a breakaway group from the Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP, which has been the governing body for the sports since over 6 decades. 

Titled as the Professional Tennis Players Association or PTPA, the association will represent male players as announced in an email. While tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have criticized the association for disrupting unity between players, former world’s doubles number one Todd Woodbridge has berated the association for not including women players and for completely missing the mark. 

It’s just poor judgment at this time,” insisted Australian doubles great Woodbridge in a recent interview.

“Everybody’s losing jobs, millions are out of work, tournaments are struggling to stay up and afloat, and the tour’s been trying for the last six months to get back.

But there’s the biggest downfall of all and that’s … where are the women? If you’re going to do this, tennis is the one sport that’s united in the world with equal prize money. Our majors are played together.

This is tone deaf by the group that has decided to break away. The ATP is the players’ representation.

They’ve got their seat at the table; they want more, they want more control of that.

This is the first week back and they throw this sort of bomb out there? I’m pretty disappointed with the way that they’ve gone with that timing.”

World number two Rafael Nadal also tweeted his concerns and called it a “difficult and complicated” time for the world.

“I personally believe these are times to be calm and all work together in the same direction,” said the Spaniard.

“It is time for unity, not for separation. These are moments where big things can be achieved as long as the world of tennis is united.

Players, tournaments and governing bodies have to work together. We have a bigger problem and separation and disunion is definitely not the solution.”

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWZ94jRemmU

Tennis Legend Slams Novak Djokovic for New Players Only Association

While 2020 hasn’t been the best of years for most sports stars, it has been a roller coaster ride for Serbian Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, who has been out of sorts form wise, has been trending in the news and headlines for some atrocious moments on and off the court. 

His most recent adventure was to create a new players only association named the Professional Tennis Players Association or PTPA. The PTPA has been a polarizing topic of discussion for all players, new and old. 

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova recently jumped into this conversation and revealed that she was totally against the formation of a new players association. She even advised Djokovic to use all the extra energy on the field rather than on a players association. 

“He thinks he’s doing the right thing. I don’t agree with it but it’s his choice. It certainly didn’t seem to help his tennis. Purely from a logical point of view, when you are a champion tennis player, when you commit to the sport, your energy goes into that. But starting this association? This is not helpful on any level,” Navratilova said in a conversation with The Irish Times.

Navratilova took the same stance on PTPA that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer had taken by refusing to be a part of it. Federer and Nadal had mentioned the need for players to remain united during this crisis. 

“Do that when you stop playing tennis but it’s controversial and not helpful. During Covid, you’re trying to divide us further when we should be trying to bring the game together and trying to figure out how to play tournaments without people getting sick and dying from Covid? Let’s stay with that problem rather than creating one we don’t need,” Navratilova added. 

Despite this criticism, Djokovic has expressed eagerness to include both Nadal and Federer in the association. 

YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWU16cdU11w