Djokovic Gives Honest Take On PTPA's Lawsuit: 'Also Things I Don't Agree With'
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Novak Djokovic spoke very honestly about what he thinks about the lawsuit launched by the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), which he co-founded.
In 2019, Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil co-founded the PTPA with Ahmad Nassar now serving as an Executive Director. The association always wanted to fight for the players' rights, but many often claimed that it failed to take any concrete steps.
That changed this week. The PTPA launched a lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA. There were many claims made by the PTPA, and so far, there haven't been many players who would agree with all of them, and that applies even to one of the co-founders, Djokovic.
Ahead of the 2025 Miami Open, where he will start against Rinky Hijikata in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, Djokovic was asked about the lawsuit.
He admitted that he never wanted to see the sport divided. That's why he likes the idea of the lawsuit being launched, as he believes it might help the sport to come closer to being united. He also hopes that players can have better conditions.
"I’ve never been a fan and supporter of division in our sport, 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."
At the same time, like many before him, Djokovic said that he doesn't agree with every point made in the document accompanying the lawsuit. Carlos Alcaraz said something similar before, but the Spaniard also said that he had no idea the lawsuit would be launched.
As a co-founder, Djokovic very likely knew about it, or at least, he didn't mention that he wouldn't know about it as Alcaraz did. He admitted that he didn't agree with everything but also believed that the lawyers who put it together knew what they were doing.
"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."
For Djokovic, the ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA, and all the tennis players, it's now a waiting game. This lawsuit already marked an important day in the history of tennis as a sport, and it's difficult to predict how it will change the current landscape.
