Serbia’s
Novak Djokovic has reiterated that the Professional
Tennis Players Association (PTPA) is here to stay and will fight for the rights
of his fellow athletes.
The Belgrade-born is the most successful player in the
history of men’s singles tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 23 Grand
Slams titles in his career.
The 36-year-old has been very vocal about the injustice that
players face in the world of tennis and because of this reason, he ended up founding
the PTPA back in 2019.
While talking about the impact of the organisation, the
23-time Grand Slam winner reiterated that the body is here to stay and also
urged fellow tennis players to fight for their rights.
"The time has been ripe for quite a while. But in terms
of the organization, time is ripe more than it ever was,” he said. “We have a
great team of people. We’re trying to perfect our structure and management to
the best of our abilities so that we show to the players primarily, but also to
the whole ecosystem that we are credible and not going anywhere.
“We are going to fight for the players’ rights of having a
more significant seat at the table of the decision-making process for both men
and women. I, as a player, understand what players are going through. I’ve been
playing professional tennis for 20 years. I’ve been on the council. I’ve been
the president of the council for years.
“I feel it has been an absolute necessity to have an
organization that is representing only 100 percent players’ rights. It has been
a quest for 20-plus years for different generation of players and for various
reasons and factors, they haven’t succeeded in creating the player
organization. But now we have it and I invite all the players to recognize
it."