Federer and Nadal in the players' council: "Only if you participate"
The news that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadalrejoined the ATP Player's Council came as a surprise. Federer explained why both decided to intervene at the ATP tournament in Cincinnati.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Aug 16, 2019, 05:30 pm
"Rafa and I sensed that there was a small possibility. A couple of boys have resigned from the players' council, which was unfortunate to look at after Wimbledon," said Federer in an interview with the Tennis Channel.
Specifically, it was Jamie Murray, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Robin Haase who had left the chaos surrounding the dismissal of ATP boss Chris Kermode , the scandal surrounding Justin Gimelstob and the disagreement over the direction of the council.
Nadal will be the fourth player in the top 50 alongside Kevin Anderson, John Isner and Sam Querrey, and Jürgen Melzer will be the second in the top 100 of the double ranking alongside Bruno Soares. Federer and Novak Djokovic will take care of the overall picture of the Council as "At-Large Members". Exactly this constellation should cause some tension, because Federer and Djokovic are not too familiar with each other.
Federer now with Djokovic in the team
So before the decision about Kermode Federer had tried to speak to Djokovic, who however had no time for him. Federer described this as "difficult to understand", even if he had appeased afterwards and explained that Djokovic had a lot to do with the whole story. A meeting the day after, as suggested by Djokovic, again seemed pointless to Federer, "everything was already decided."
Federer did not like the big finish recently, he explained further. "Then I thought: That might give us the opportunity to enter.
He called Nadal and asked what he thought of it. "I would only do it if you were going too. And he said: I also only participate if you are there too." Then the application was submitted. Djokovic and the rest of the player council should have decided "whether it would be better to have us on board or not."
Federer wanted to support the good ideas or talk about the bad ones and consider how to do it differently.
Federer: "Tennis is fine"
Ultimately, according to the Swiss, tennis is doing well. "We don't have to talk things down. But when it comes to communication, it was a bit bumpy. I think with Novak, Rafa and me and the other top boys on the Council - everyone wants to do the right thing. It makes things a lot easier if we all do sit in the council instead of only partially. "
In addition, he and Nadal had already been on the council, "and we worked very well together there. I expect the same thing now."