World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has urged the ATP to act on players' complaints about the adverse implications of ball changes.
Djokovic believes that the players have uniformly raised their voices directed at the governing body, the ATP. The concerns are justifiable with a myriad of cases of players injuring their wrists and shoulders as a result of heavy tennis balls currently in use.
The 24-time major champion sympathized with his fellow pros and concurred with the general consensus about the adverse effect of ball changes on the joints. Djokovic has called on the ATP to bring some sort of uniformity in the choice of balls based on the playing surface in order to curb the issue.
Furthermore, Djokovic was left perplexed by the ATP's stance on the players' complaints. Instead of giving constructive feedback, or at the very least acknowledging that the responses have been received and that something could be done behind the scenes, the umbrella body of men's tennis has chosen to remain quiet.
In an interview with Sportal, Djokovic says silence is not a solution, adding that it is 'incomprehensible' that there has not been any correspondence or direct communication between the ATP and the players.
"I didn't see that the ATP issued any statement regarding the player's complaints, and these are things that are incomprehensible to me. When you have tennis players from the top who are trying to reach you in public and say: "Hey, let's talk about that topic!", you have to make a statement, address them, say: "Okay, we understand, let's sit at the table, let's talk!"
"Let's see if there is some process where questions are asked to the players and responses are sought from a larger group of players, from a hundred players, to see what everyone thinks, to see the consensus. There must be some activation, I don't understand why there is silence from their side."
"I hope that they will realize that there simply must be direct communication. Likewise, it should be publicly announced that they have received this information and are working on it, in the sense that they will see how they can find a solution that is acceptable. Silence will not change anything."
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