'Big Fake Thing': Pospisil Slams 'Facade Of Collaboration' From ATP Amid Ongoing Problems
ATP
Longtime ATP Tour critic Vasek Pospisil continued to criticize the ATP for all sorts of problems he sees with the organization.
The Canadian veteran player has been a longtime critic of the way the ATP handles things. He formed the PTPA with his good friend Novak Djokovic specifically because of that, but it's been a slow process trying to change the sport.
One of his main criticisms right now is with the tennis balls. It's not a unique experience, as he has many players sharing his views. The balls fly slow, which drags out the rallies, and he doesn't think it's a very good thing. Plenty of players are hitting the balls harder than ever, which also contributes to injuries.
First of all, nobody wants to see a 60-ball rally every point. They like variety. So that failed. The next thing is, one out of two players, 50% of players seem to have wrist, elbow, shoulder issues in the locker room. Then recently people started to tweet about it. Now there is a bit of talk, and they're, Oh, yeah, we are addressing it, addressing it.
Players don't talk about it openly. They are in the locker room. Everyone has got -- he has wrist pain. I mean, how many wrist surgeries have we seen this year? Guy popped his elbow -- I mean, yeah, I can name several players.
There seems to be a prevalent opinion among players that the Tour is not really listening to them. They are certainly not cooperating with them, which is another thing Pospisil is not a fan of. He explained that there is basically a facade of collaboration when it couldn't be further from the truth.
Obviously I think players bring a lot of value to this business, and that hasn't been the case. I mean, I have seen it. I have been on the council. I know exactly how things go. I think when we get to a place where players, you know, are able to impact decisions like this, that impacts their health, including the length of the season and, you know, whatever -- it would just be nice to have more collaboration.
There is a facade of collaboration. There is a, you know, a big, big fake thing, but the reality is there's not. Obviously now there is a lot of pressure because of player association, because it's being spoken about a lot more. So there is some movement there in the right direction.
