One of America’s highest ranked tennis players have come out in support of the recently formed Professional Tennis Player Association by saying there are issues with the current structure of the ATP.
World No.39 Reilly Opelka is one of a series of players to have joined the PTPA, which was co-founded by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil. The objective of the organisation is to campaign for a greater say on behalf of athletes when it comes to decision making. Although the move has been publicly condemned by the ATP Council, whose members include Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The council has previously urged their peers not to join the PTPA.
Amid the debate over the need for a union-type movement in tennis, 23-year-old Opelka argues there are various cases of conflicts of interest within the sport which he describes as ‘insane.’ Ironically Djokovic was recently forced to withdraw his application for the ATP Council after the governing body decided his PTPA involvement was a conflict of interest.
“I mean, we need one 100%. If you look at the issues, how many conflicts of interests we have, in the ATP structure, it’s insane… You can’t be on the board of the ATP and you can’t be a tournament director and then a player’s agent. That can’t happen. That absolutely can’t happen,” Opelka told the Behind the Racquet podcast.
“There are like so many conflicts of interest, you know, for a big organization… and PTPA wants to get rid of all these conflicts of interest,” he added.
Elaborating further, Opelka singled out Dominic Thiem’s manager Herwig Straka as a prime example. A law and business graduate, Straka also serves as the tournament director of the Vienna Open and is linked with the ATP.
“You know Dominic Thiem’s agent… for example, owns a tournament in Austria. He owns Vienna, so how could he, and he’s on the board in ATP, so essentially he has a vote on prize money… I really doubt he abuses that ’cause he is a good guy, but just the fact that’s there is there is wrong,” Opelka argues.
Since its launch shortly before the US Open, the movement of the PTPA has slowed in recent weeks and it is uncertain what the future has in store. From the onset, members have said they want to work alongside the ATP but the chances of this occurring at present are low.
“The PTPA has yet to be structured with the strategy and long term vision yet to be clearly defined, and although the PTPA has made it clear it does not intend to be combative, it is unclear how the ATP will view the association in the future,” Djokovic has stated.
At present only male players are members of the organisation but there is speculation that it will be open for women to join at some stage next year.
