“He has no relationship with players out of the top 20”, Facundo Bagnis slams the ATP Chairman and feels grateful towards Novak Djokovic and his PTPA
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Facundo Bagnis, ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, Novak Djokovic
Argentine World No.99 Facundo Bagnis criticized the ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi saying that he has no relationship with the players out of the top 20 as he doesn’t even notice him. At the same time, he praised the Serbian World No.7, Novak Djokovic, for creating PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association) along with Canadian Former World No.25 Vasek Pospisil.
“In 2020, I lived the moment when Djokovic created the PTPA and the ATP was terribly aggressive with us not to join. The ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi has no relationship with the players, at least with those who are not in the top 20. He doesn’t even say hi to me.”
Continuing his train of thought, he further added, “I am grateful for what Djokovic did. I saw him super involved in the tournament in Rome. He attended a meeting for two and a half hours, which was not mandatory, and he was playing the next day. People don’t have the chance to see that, but I do and I take my hat off to him.
“He was the one who helped during the fires in Australia. He was the one who proposed that players outside the Top 100 be helped during the pandemic. He may not be the fans’ favorite, he may make mistakes sometimes, but when it comes to helping lower ranked players, he is always in the front row.” Said Facundo Bagnis (source: LA Nacion)
History of PTPA
PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association) is founded by Serbian World No.7 Novak Djokovic and Canadian Former World No.25 Vasek Pospisil. It was formally founded as a non-profit organization in Canada in 2021, though the idea of creating one of its kind started way back in 2019.
Djokovic and Pospisil are serving as co-presidents for the first two years and the association includes players (male and female) inside the top 500 singles and top 200 doubles rankings. The PTPA has a group of nine members that are elected annually and form the board of trustees.
PTPA aims to create transparency and fairness in professional tennis with more support for lower-ranked players. This organization is considered to be a revolutionary movement in the history of tennis, but the initial build-up got some hits when other top players like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer disagree to join it.
The strong words spoken by the World No.99 Argentine now is a boost for the future of the PTPA organization and Novak Djokovic.
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)