'Big Fake Thing': Pospisil Slams 'Facade Of Collaboration' From ATP Amid Ongoing Problems

| by Sebastian Dahlman

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.

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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.

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