Djokovic, Jabeur on committee of controversial tennis players body

Novak Djokovic. File
| Photo Credit: AP

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Novak Djokovic and women’s world number two Ons Jabeur were named Wednesday on the first executive committee of the controversial Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).

Serbia’s Djokovic, the former men’s number one, was instrumental in the creation of the PTPA, having quit as president of the ATP Player Council in 2020 to launch the breakaway organisation.

The ATP runs men’s tennis. The PTPA is independent of the ATP and its women’s equivalent, the WTA, and says it wants to give players a greater voice in the sport.

Six other players were also named on the executive committee, or leadership body: Paula Badosa, Hubert Hurkacz, John Isner, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Vasek Pospisil and Zheng Saisai.

The committee is “centered on advancing player rights, growing and improving the business of tennis”, the PTPA said in a statement from Melbourne, ahead of next week’s Australian Open.

Speaking in Adelaide last week, Djokovic said: “When it comes to PTPA, a player organisation that is 100 percent devoted to players, we don’t have anything like that in tennis.”

The 35-year-old, one of the most successful men’s players of all time, admitted that “we were not accepted and embraced by Grand Slams, ATP nor WTA, so it makes things difficult for us”.

“But this association needs to live,” he said.

“It needs to be there because players don’t have 100 percent representation in the tennis world, unfortunately.”