ATP chaos as Novak Djokovic, Vasek Pospisil, John Isner announce breakaway players association

Shahida Jacobs
Novak Djokovic talks to press

The ATP Tour is at a crossroads after Novak Djokovic, Vasek Pospisil and John Isner announced a breakaway players association for men.

World No 1 Djokovic, Canadian player Pospisil and American No 1 Isner, who are all on the ATP Player Council Board, are behind the formation of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) which they hope can co-exist alongside the ATP Player Council.

Djokovic has revealed that he will be asking the top 500 men’s singles players in the world and the top 200 doubles players for their support over the weekend.

Djokovic said: “Legally we are 100 per cent safe and we are allowed to form the player association. This is not a union. This is player association.

“So we are not calling for boycotts. We are not forming parallel tours.

“We are meeting with players today, and our goal is to try to secure support from the players and try to get an indication of support. We don’t have a minimum number of players that will sign or maximum number of players that will sign.

“We are hoping we can get majority of those players. We are aware that it most likely will not be the case today, but we are giving it time.

“Of course I would love to have Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] on board. Of course I would love to have all the players on board. But I understand.

“I truly understand that, you know, some of them have different opinions and they don’t think the time is right. Again, I think the time is right.”

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