In his opening match at the Miami Open Vasek Pospisil was penalised by the umpire for his behaviour on the court but it was what he said during the argument that caught the attention of many.
Speaking to official Arnaud Gabas the highly animated Canadian said the day before he was ‘screamed’ at by Andrea Gaudenzi who is the head of the ATP Tour and even threatened to sue the men’s governing body if he defaulted from the match. Pospisil was making reference to an encounter he had with Gaudenzi during what was meant to be a routine Players meeting that usually takes place behind closed doors and out of the media spotlight. For this reason it is hard to establish what actually happened in Miami. Although opencourt.ca claims that the the world No.67 was brought to tears at one point following a series of criticisms.
Those alleged criticisms concern the Professional Tennis Players Association. An independent body that was co-founded by both Pospisil and Novak Djokovic. The aim of the PTPA is to campaign for players to have a greater say in the decision making processes. However, the movement isn’t without controversy. The ATP is against such a movement, arguing that it divides the sports and objectives of the group are unclear. In the past the ATP Council, whose members include both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, urged their peers not to join.
“Vasek Pospišil is my good friend and I empathize with him wholeheartedly. Players on tour would agree that he is an individual of the highest integrity who cares about the well being of his fellow competitors,” Djokovic wrote on social media.
“I am hopeful players recognize the importance of standing together,” he added.
It is clear there is a divide in men’s tennis but it is unclear as to how significant it is. Following the Pospisil incident, the hashtag ‘#playervoices’ emerged on Twitter with various players supporting calls for an independent body of some sort. Former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic wrote ‘voices need to be heard, respected and acknowledged. Don’t try to silence them, but work with them.’ Ivo Karlovic, who has played on the ATP Tour for 20 years, said it is ‘more obvious than ever that we need a players only association.’ Away from the internet, Denis Shapovalov spoke out in favour of the PTPA following his win at the Miami Open on Saturday.
“I have heard from several players a lot of not great information. So I’m definitely on the PTPA side. I think we are not underrepresented, but I think there is ways that we could be represented better,” he said.
“I don’t think that the ATP is doing the fullest job that they can be. I think there are other ways and there are players that are trying to introduce or help within the ATP bring in different information or sponsors and this and that, and basically we’re all getting shut down. They are just telling us to go and play tennis which in my opinion it’s not right.”
Quoting Kevin Anderson the PTPA does have some ‘unanswered questions’ concerning their long-term objectives for the sport. The world of tennis politics is a complicated one which isn’t helped by the fact there are seven separate governing bodies operating within the sport.
Perhaps the best way forward is to stick with facts and figures. Such as the SportsBusiness Annual Media Report of 2018 which shows that more than a billion people worldwide describes themselves as tennis fans. Furthermore, some of the sports best players are the highest paid athletes in the world. With this in mind, questions are being raised over why tennis only accounts for 1.3% of the total value for global sports TV. Etienne de Villiers, who served as ATP chairman from 2005 to 2008, said during a recent interview with Bloomberg that trying to change the business model of tennis is tough because “everyone distrusts everyone else.”
Just earlier in the week John Isner called for more transparency concerning prize money in the sport which has been dramatically reduced in recent months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the American does acknowledge that the ATP has been more forthcoming in information recently.
“Look, there’s always going to be some things that players are unhappy about,” he said.
“I do think recently the players have felt like the tour has been more transparent with them. We’re trying to understand the process a bit more.”
It is unclear what the future has in store for the PTPA but it is clear that Tennis is not entirely united at present.
