Conflict is the beginning of consciousness. A similar conflict in the tennis world gave rise to Novak Djokovic‘s brainchild- PTPA. Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) is an association consisting of male and female players from all over the world. It represents the Top 500 singles and Top 200 doubles players. The sole idea of the 4-year-old association is to promote transparency and fairness throughout the decision-making processes and protect the best wishes of the players.

But few people get to understand its aim in developing the racket sport. Recently, the Executive Director of PTPA, Ahmad Nassar, appeared in an interview, where he elaborated more about Novak Djokovic’s controversial association. Let’s catch up more on this story.

A top official from Novak Djokovic’s brainchild reflects on the flaws of the current system in the world of tennis

 Novak Djokovic and his fellow ATP pro from Canada, Vasek Pospisil, had previously been members of the ATP Players Council before becoming the heads of PTPA. But, now the association is governed by a board of trustees of nine members who are elected annually. Nassar is one of the most important members of PTPA. Here’s what he said about the allegedly flawed and outdated model of the ATP and the WTA.

‘I don’t think the current model works. This is not unique to tennis. Just look at golf, right? Golf had a similar structure and it didn’t do the players any good (hence LIV Golf). Tennis players have been left behind over the last 30 years. It started as a noble concept (in 1988) of, “Okay, this is a player-owned tour.” But over time, the players lost control of the structure,‘ said Ahmad Nassar. 

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He further added, ‘The tours should be seen like leagues—the NBA and the MLB and the NFL. They make the rules. They make the schedule. They do all the things that event planners and governing bodies do. And then you have the players, represented collectively by one body—a player’s association that negotiates on all the things on their behalf: The schedule when it comes to, say, late-night matches. Health and benefits. Prize money. The balls tournaments use and all that stuff. That’s how it works in other sports. And it’s a model that’s worked really, really well.‘

PTPA is the first significant player empowerment action in almost 35 years. Nassar went on to elaborate on its role, saying, ‘Once the tennis players make their discontent known, people do take notice. The WTA recently announced that, responding to player complaints, it is looking into establishing a standard ball. There’s not a player that would disagree with adopting a single ball, at least by surface, but who is pushing to make that happen? That would fall to the PTPA.‘

Djokovic had earlier expressed his concern about the current structure and system of ATP. He said players are often seen complaining about the same and it’s happening for years now. So, he felt there needed to be a change. But will this change affect the whole system?

Is PTPA an existential threat to ATP and WTA?

Well, answering to this question Ahmad Nassar said that PTPA is not necessarily a a threat to the other two associations. He stressed more about how PTPA should be looked at as a partner to ATP and WTA in order to bring the best results for the players. But he also mentioned that if players are ignored and their voices don’t reach the higher authority, then ‘don’t be surprised if bad things happen.’

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He revealed that the PTPA had earlier reached out to ATP and WTA, but found out that they were not on the same side of the table. While ATP & WTA concentrate more on the tournaments. Tours and their commercial partners. PTPA completely focuses on representing the players. However, he said that Novak Djokovic’s association had some friendly dialogues in the past. Although nothing has been sorted so far between them, fans are hopeful and they now wish to see the best outcome for their beloved game.

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