Novak Djokovic spoke to the media at the Miami Open a day before his debut in the tournament against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata. It is his first appearance in the second Masters 1000 since the 2019 edition. Djokovic, one of the driving forces behind the PTPA (tennis players’ union), spoke about the multi-million dollar lawsuit filed against all tennis bodies, including the ATP
“I have never been in favour of division in sport, but I have always fought for improvements for players and I don’t just mean economically but in many other aspects mentioned in the complaint,” commented the 24-time Grand Slam champion
The Serb wants there to be a distribution of profits in line with the importance of tennis, the third most followed sport in the world after soccer and basketball: “We have 1.8 billion viewers, but we are in 10th place in terms of money distributed to professionals. And that is something that must change.”
Trust in an agreement
Novak hopes and wants an agreement between the parties to avoid a trial that would have unknown consequences for all the defendants: “I really hope that all the governing bodies, including the PTPA, get together and resolve these issues. This is a classic lawsuit, a lawyer-to-lawyer situation.”
I have always fought for improvements for the players
The Serb also expressed his disagreement with the vocabulary used in some of the phrases in the public statement announcing the lawsuit against all the governing bodies of the racket sport. It should be remembered that they are branded as a cartel: “To be honest, there are things I agree with in the lawsuit, and there are also things I don’t. I noticed that maybe some words were too strong, but I guess the legal team knows what it’s doing and what terminology to use to achieve the desired effect,” he said.
Djokovic has had a pretty busy schedule since arriving in Miami. He had commitments with sponsors and attended the official players’ party at the popular Gekko. There he was immortalized alongside Carlos Alcaraz
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