There was a time when Novak Djokovic enjoyed being tennis’s chief disruptor.
His work on the field was perfect. When he entered the top ranks of professional tennis in recent years, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal dominated.
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For much of the next fifteen years, Djokovic flipped the buffet table. He surpassed Federer and Nadal’s records, won head-to-head matches against them, and won more Grand Slam titles, won more ATP Masters 1000 titles, and remained No. 1 in the world longer than either of them. This season, Djokovic is likely to replace Federer and ascend to the second title of his career, while Jimmy Connors’ record of 109 match wins will become the last important record that he does not have.
In August 2020, Djokovic essentially decided to try to accomplish the same feat off the court. He served as chairman of the ATP Tour Players Council; Federer and Nadal were key members. Federer created the Laver Cup in partnership with Tennis Australia and the United States Tennis Association (organizers of the Australian Open and US Open). Although no ranking points are awarded, the team event has become an official part of the ATP Tour calendar.
Djokovic subsequently resigned in favor of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), which he co-founded with Canadian tennis player Vasek Pospisil. Federer and Nadal stayed on tour and called for unity despite being ripe for disruption. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought tennis to a standstill. It is a shadow of itself economically. Players are increasingly angry about reduced wages and increasing demands and restrictions.
Players can express their opinions through the ATP Player Council. The ATP Tour board includes three player representatives; three tournament representatives do the same. In the event of any deadlock, Tour President Andrea Gaudenzi will have the deciding vote. Instead, Djokovic proposed an organization of independent contractors that lacked the collective power of a true union but would be independent in governance.
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Thus comes the PTPA, an organization that must now try to survive without Djokovic, if only because his departure, announced on Sunday, may create the impression of an organization led by players rather than by key players.
Djokovic was 33 years old and the unquestioned world No. 1, with many years left in his already storied career and at the peak of his health when he co-founded the PTPA. He is determined to leave future players with a better experience as a tennis player than he himself was. More money for players at all levels. They have more freedom to play anytime and anywhere. Have a real say in the running of the sport.
More than five years later, a lot has changed for the PTPA, the tennis operations organization and Djokovic. The Serbian champion is increasingly finding that disrupting tennis doesn’t quite fit in with his changing role as the sport’s elder statesman, a status he has earned through all his victories in recent years and which, even in his advanced age, has made him a more beloved and sentimental hero than ever before.
He likes it, just like everyone else. As retirement approaches sooner or later, he hopes this will continue and even intensify as exit approaches, eventually leaving the stage, although even he doesn’t know when that will happen.
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Would this happen if the organization he co-founded and derived so much legitimacy from sought to use the judicial and regulatory systems on two continents to destroy the sport?
Djokovic, like everyone in tennis, leads a life filled with conflict.
He has been a major critic of the ATP Tour. He and his family now run the ATP Tour event in Athens.
He has spent the past two years working with Saudi Arabian officials to raise millions of dollars to compete in the Six Kings Grand Slam exhibition tournament. The Saudi team is now one of the major investors in the men’s and women’s tours and plans to host the ATP Masters 1000 tournament as soon as 2028.
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Djokovic revered the Grand Slams, especially Wimbledon, which he won seven times, and the Australian Open, which he won ten times. Last year, a group of top players asked him to sign a letter asking for a bigger share of their prize money. He did it.
A second letter was then circulated by some of those players demanding higher wages and more contributions to players’ pensions and parental leave schemes, as well as opinions on how the four majors should be run. Djokovic died just as PTPA leaders asked him to name his name in an antitrust lawsuit against the tour, the World Tennis Association (the sport’s international governing body) and Tennis Integrity International, the anti-doping and anti-corruption body. Last September it removed the latter two organizations as defendants but added the four Grand Slams.
Djokovic remains the de facto leader of the PTPA. His staff said they were in regular contact with him and that a lawsuit had become inevitable as the PTPA’s relationship with the sport’s ruling body became increasingly hostile.
Djokovic knows what will happen if he becomes the named plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit. The world will see this clash as him versus tennis – but that’s no longer his place.
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The day is not far off when leaders of these organizations might contact him to order statues of his likeness. Would that happen if he led a life-or-death fight to control the future of the sport?
It seemed to him that wherever he went, people wanted to use him for their own benefit, and it was unclear what exactly he wanted to gain from this. Perhaps, after so many years as a disruptor, making the best impression on Switzerland was the best solution, even if the decision caused a lot of headaches and softened the emotional impact of the proceedings.
Nine months after submitting his application, he found himself further removed from the process. Antitrust action is not afternoon tea at the All England Club. By definition, one side is trying to drive a battering ram through what it considers the other side’s territory.
Powerful entities often resist being stripped of their power. They use every tool at their disposal to undermine their opponents, often attacking their legitimacy in every possible way. No one is off limits.
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That’s not what someone like Djokovic, widely regarded as the game’s greatest player, was hoping for at this stage of his career. At a press conference at last year’s U.S. Open, he reflected on his place in reform discussions over the past few years, recalling how difficult it had been to go through all the meetings and hurdles, but also hinting that it was time for others to take the lead.
Then, on Sunday, Djokovic announced that he would officially part ways with the organization that once looked like it might be the foundation of his legacy.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to completely withdraw from the Professional Tennis Players Association,” Djokovic announced on social media. “This decision follows ongoing concerns about transparency, governance and the way my voice and image are represented.”
Hours later, the PTPA dismissed it.
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“We always welcome the opportunity to resolve issues with any player and will do so at any time,” the organization said in a statement. “The PTPA initiated litigation against the Tour and the Grand Slams to advance reforms related to governance, transparency and player rights. As a result, we were the target of a coordinated defamation and witness intimidation campaign to discredit the PTPA, its staff and their work by spreading inaccurate and misleading narratives.”
The question now is whether the PTPA can survive without Djokovic. The organization has a for-profit arm, Winners Alliance, which seeks partnerships for athletes and provides funding for the PTPA’s operations. It also has private investors, notably outspoken Wall Street veteran and tennis enthusiast Bill Ackman.
Winners Alliance is an investor in Grand Slam Athletics, the ill-fated league founded by Olympian Michael Johnson that is now bankrupt. GST claimed athletes involved in the effort were paid, but GST’s bankruptcy disclosure revealed global stars including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Josh Kerr and Kenny Bednarek were collectively owed more than $1 million.
Ahmad Nassar has worked for the NFL Players Association and college athletics and currently serves as executive director of the PTPA and CEO of Winners Alliance. He’s the one who has to keep both ships moving without the legitimacy that Djokovic’s support brings, even though Djokovic has been leading from behind for some time and has had some issues.
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Will investors follow Djokovic after he leaves? Is the company willing to work with an entity that it no longer has any relationship with? While Djokovic’s departure will have little impact on the antitrust lawsuit, it could increase perceptions of a drifting organization — one that needs money to continue if it wants to maintain the legal course it has set for itself and tennis.
Djokovic has decided this is no longer his problem. He still has a legendary career to complete. He has the opportunity to build his post-retirement life the way he chooses, something only a handful of former athletes have the opportunity to do.
With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner dominating the sport, another chaotic period on the pitch seems unlikely. Now, his chaotic days off the field appear to be over.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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