Paul McNamee comes out in support of Novak Djokovic’s decision to withdraw from the Players Council; slams ATP

Paul McNamee comes out in support of Novak Djokovic’s decision to withdraw from the Players Council; slams ATP
Novak Djokovic Vasek Pospisil
Novak Djokovic, Vasek Pospisil

World No.1, Novak Djokovic was the President of the ATP Council from 2016 to 2020. He has always been very active in resolving player issues on the tour. Earlier this year, Djokovic resigned from the Players Council and founded the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players’ association) with co-founder Vasek Pospisil.

After this move by Djokovic, the ATP came up with an overnight new rule stating that a player having any ‘Conflict of Interest’ with the men’s governing body will not be elected to the Player Council.

The Serbian was considered ineligible from contesting this month’s ATP Player Council elections, following which the World No.1 withdrew his candidature and made an official statement on his Twitter handle.

Ex. Australian Open CEO, Paul McNamee slammed the men’s governing tennis body for their actions against the 17-time Grand Slams champion. The former World No.24 backed Djokovic’s statement by expressing his support for the champion player.

ATP and its alleged ‘personal agenda’ against Djokovic

novak djokovic nitto atp finals
Novak Djokovic

When the World No.1 of men’s tennis established the PTPA in September this year, he started a fire. And in a metaphorical context, you cannot start a fire without expecting your world to fall apart.

Similarly, following Novak’s formation of the PTPA, ATP passed a new rule stating that no player having a ‘conflict of interest’ with any other similar body can be elected to the Player Council. ‘Conflict of interest’ for the purpose of this rule would include an association with another player organization.

The change in rule overnight by the ATP seemed like the body is pursuing an agenda against the Serb. They have cited how several other instances of conflict of interest in tennis have gone unnoticed and claimed that the new rule was passed only to prevent Djokovic’s nomination.

While announcing his withdrawal, Djokovic stressed that he realized the importance of not having conflicts of interest, and thus understood the ATP’s decision. Although, the Serb did take a smart dig at the ATP through his words.

“I hope that, going forward, this is not only applied to the formation of new associations at the player level but further applied to all levels within the ATP structure,” Djokovic said in his statement.

There has been no response from the ATP in relation with newly released statement of the World No.1.

Also Read: Novak Djokovic named ‘Covidiot of the Year’ by British newspaper