Is money greater than the well-being of athletes? The World’s No.1 Novak Djokovic recently outed who he stands with on a grave issue. He released a statement mentioning the actual cause of injuries among tennis players. Djokovic took the direct approach to letting out his thoughts rather than avoiding the matter in any way.

The last few years have been awful for many players as they had to take early retirement or stay inactive. The reason is not the bad form of these players but rather serious injuries. There is a visible spike in wrist injuries among players. Many big names have come out to address this issue as well.

Novak Djokovic calls out the ATP and sponsors

Since the reports of injuries are coming up quite frequently, it was high time to set the record straight. Players would like organizations like the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) which was co-founded by the 24-time Grand Slam champion 3 years ago, to put efforts into resolving this issue. This whole fiasco has led to Djokovic’s statement about injuries and how they’re related to sponsors in an interview with Sportal.

Djokovic said: “There is certainly a connection between frequent injuries of the wrist, elbow, shoulder joint with balls and their changes.” expressing his thoughts about the strange phenomenon. Since it wasn’t just a player or two raising their concerns. “I am absolutely in favor of choosing one ball with which we will play all ATP tournaments.” [translated via Google]

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He clarified that his support is in the favor of those who want all the tournaments to use the same balls. “It is different and more difficult with the Grand Slams because each of the biggest tournaments we play negotiates separately which sponsor they will have for the balls, but this also happens on the ATP tour.” He dissected the issue further saying the game becomes tougher with every tournament because the sponsors are different for each one. He even acknowledged that it is no different for ATP tours either.

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The Serbian understands that tournaments have to get backing from these sponsors, as he says: “Every tournament has the right to negotiate. However, we simply have to find a way to unify, so that in each category on the ATP tour we have one ball to play with, of course depending on the surface.” But it doesn’t mean that there is no solution to this. As per Djokovic, everyone involved just needs to come to an arrangement. Each and every tournament or ATP should have the same ball, fitting the surface of the court. ” He went further to discuss the depth of this situation.

Players who are struggling

Djokovic before ending his statement said: “Sometimes that change of balls happens three times in three weeks depending on where we play, and it affects the health of the players and the joints themselves.” this is true as the players are habituated to a certain weight while hitting the ball. Djokovic hinted at the US Open‘s policy of changing balls every week. Balls of a different weight or size can be too much for muscles to absorb the shock. This as a result leads to arm injuries.

He then said: “In that sense, I support the players complaining and asking the ATP to find a way to resolve it. They have to find a solution.” Taylor Fritz, Stan Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the big names amongst many others who are facing issues due to frequent changes. ATP is directly responsible for not managing this issue to the best of its capabilities. It hasn’t even acknowledged that there is an issue.

The ball issue is now garnering more and more attention. However, seeing the ATP silent about this situation is a cause of major concern. Players give a lot to this sport. Certainly, Djokovic would urge the PTPA to push this matter for the well-being of the players. Ideally, this should lead to taking better care of players rather than turning a blind eye to the whole situation.

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