Novak Djokovic, the PTPA - and the question of solidarity
By founding the Professional Tennis Players Association, Novak Djokovic wanted to stir up the tennis business. Will the current events in Melbourne harm this endeavor?
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 08, 2022, 01:53 pm
On Monday it will be decided whether Novak Djokovic can participate in the Australian Open 2022. Until then, the best tennis player in the world will be staying in a hotel that may not meet his usual standards. However, there is no question of a prison camp in North Korea, as some observers and fans of Djokovic wanted to believe through various channels in the past few hours. Novak Djokovic is also not the only person waiting for a positive decision to enter Australia. But the most prominent.
So if the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) publishes a statement that looks like that of the WTA in the Peng Shuai case, then the ratios are probably no longer quite right. And it also has a pale aftertaste: The PTPA was founded under the leadership of Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil. So it is no surprise that the front man is jumped to the side. But if the PTPA had also stepped on the scene if, for example, the number 123 in the world, Radu Albot, had suffered the same fate.
Djokovic will not have flown to Australia on suspicion
First of all: It can be assumed that Novak Djokovic only started the trip to Australia after he had obtained certainty that there would be no problems with the entry. It was only on suspicion and in good hope that the most professional tennis player in the world would not have boarded the plane to Melbourne. So the sudden shift in opinion by the Australian authorities really needs to be questioned. More will be known on Monday.
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Apart from that, however, the fact remains that Novak Djokovic is the only one of the top players to apply for and receive a medical exemption because he does not want to be vaccinated. What is his right. But if the entry requirement to Australia is a full vaccination, then the impression can hardly be avoided that the extremely fit Djokovic and a medical exemption do not go together.
Corona infection in the last six months? This has now been put forward by Djokovic's lawyers as a reason for the exemption. Allegedly, the deadline to apply for one should have expired on December 10th. The positive PCR test from December 16 would have come too late.
Tsitsipas gets vaccinated late
So does this special treatment fit in with the PTPA's idea? The union founded in autumn 2020 would like to represent the concerns of the players better. The great popularity that Djokovic and Pospisil experienced immediately confirms that there are many tennis professionals who want (even) more weight in decisions in big business. Important: closed rows. And solidarity with one another.
Novak Djokovic has now undermined this with his extra way. If 95 of the top 100 players on the tour are actually vaccinated (as the ATP claims), then it is certainly not only Stefanos Tsitsipas who waited longer for the trick because he had concerns about the side effects. But like most of the others, Tsitsipas decided to do it after all. More out of pragmatism than out of conviction.
Would it have been too much to ask for Novak Djokovic to stand up and explain that he would not be vaccinated and therefore - due to the current entry rules - would not attend the Australian Open? Perhaps. On the other hand, Djokovic will start as defending champion and favorite at both the French Open and Wimbledon. Major title number 21 should follow one way or another this season. Maybe now in Melbourne. In terms of sport, Novak Djokovic has long been beyond reproach, the most successful tennis player in history. As the leader of a players' movement, however, the events in Melbourne may not have helped him.