Roger Federer to Have a Meeting With Djokovic, Nadal and Murray

Published 01/13/2019, 5:15 PM EST

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The tennis legend Roger Federer calls for a discussion with his colleagues Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray regarding the future of ATP Tour chief as the situations as prevailing against the present chief Chris Kermode. He is a retired English tennis player, who was a former tournament director and the presently executive chairman & president of the ATP. 

It was reported that the ATP player council member Vasek Pospisil has called the players ranked between 50 to 100 to stand up against the CEO. It was stated that the employees must “start acting and running like a business, not like a bunch of scared kids … we need a CEO that first and foremost represents OUR interests”. The email also comprised of the following text which said, “the governance structure of the ATP favours the interests of the tournaments and its (their) owners … It’s time for a change and it can be achieved by staying unified and demanding what we deserve for our hard work”.

There are three tournament representatives and three player representatives in the ATP board. For renewal of Kermode’s contract this one they are expected to vote. Kermode needs two of the three board members from each side of the ATP to support him.

Federer has decided to look into this issue with his fellow mates. “I was going to speak to some of the council members. I’m practising with one of them this afternoon, Robin Haase,” Federer said. ”I would like to hear a little bit from him how the council meeting (on Saturday) went, where their general feel is about leadership in the ATP. We’ve had a good five, six years now under Chris’ leadership. Obviously, it’s an important role. We need to look at it very thoroughly. I need to speak with Novak, Rafa, and Andy a little bit just to get their take on it all.”

The two-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion, Justin Gimelstob has been charged with felony battery in a Los Angeles court last month. He was accused of attacking one-time friend Randall Kaplan and pleaded not guilty. With reference to this matter, Federer opened up, “with the board member (Gimelstob), we know the situation. It’s pending. We’re waiting to see what’s going to happen. I know him well. So we’ll see what the situation is there. But it’s definitely interesting times, I’d like to call it, not bad times in our sport. I think it’s maybe also a bit of a transition time. So it will be interesting to see what’s going to happen.”

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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