- A potential boycott of next year’s Australian Open was discussed this week
- Novak Djokovic proposed at the meeting a body to represent players’ interests
- One suggestion was to allocate more tournament prize money to players
A potential boycott by male players of next year’s Australian Open was among the more radical ideas floated at the ATP meeting taken over by Novak Djokovic prior to this fortnight’s event.
As the season’s first Grand Slam began, more details emerged of the contentious annual player gathering on Friday — revealed by Sportsmail on Monday— in which he proposed a body to purely represent players’ interests.
He was accompanied by a lawyer specialising in employment disputes, who is said to have pointed out that it would be easier to withhold labour in Australia than it is in the other Grand Slam nations of the UK, the USA and France.
Novak Djokovic took over ATP meeting, where ideas were discussed, ahead of Australian Open
A boycott by male players of next year’s Australian Open was among the more radical ideas
Kevin Anderson, vice-president of the ATP player council, confirmed on Monday that Djokovic made a surprise address to the meeting, and that others responded from the floor. That came after all non-players were asked to leave the room by the Serb, who is currently the council’s president.
The former world No 1 was expected to discuss the issue after he made his playing comeback at Melbourne Park, which has been abuzz with the possible ramifications of a new players’ union.
We are still a long way from the prospect of a boycott but it is clear there is support for Djokovic’s broader ideas.
One of them is to persuade tournaments to allocate a greater percentage of their revenues to prize-money, and there is little question that tennis lags behind many sports in this regard. In the case of the Grand Slams (which are separate entities to the ATP Tour) this can be under 10 per cent.
Kevin Anderson, vice-president of ATP player council, confirmed Djokovic made an address
We’re a long way from a boycott but it is clear there is support for Djokovic’s broader ideas
More contentious would be the suggestion that they deserve a greater slice of the pie than their female counterparts, although there is little question that some male players feel this way.
Djokovic himself tackled this thorny subject in 2016. The Serb said the men ‘should fight for more because we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches. I think that’s one of the reasons why maybe we should get awarded more’.
Some of the rank-and-file players have offered blunter assesments on the issue. Djokovic’s compatriot Viktor Troicki said: ‘When you look at what Grand Slams earn compared to the players it’s ridiculous.’
American Ryan Harrison was also in favour of a body purely looking out for players’ interests rather than the current partnership with tour events.
‘As far as the players’ union goes, I think it would be good because the only people that represent us are also representing the tournaments,’ he said.
American Ryan Harrison was in favour of a body purely looking out for players’ interests