FEDERER, NADAL OBJECT TO DJOKOVIC’S PROPOSAL FOR MEN’S PLAYER UNION
NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and other members of the ATP Player Council spoke out Saturday against a plan put forth by top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil to start a men’s-only union of sorts for tennis — bringing the sport’s politics into the spotlight just before the U.S. Open. Also against the proposal: the ATP men’s tour and the sport’s other governing bodies, including the WTA women’s tour and the four Grand Slam tournaments. They issued a joint statement Saturday saying: “It is a time for even greater collaboration, not division.” After a meeting Saturday night, Pospisil tweeted out a picture showing a group of male players — wearing masks because of the pandemic — standing on a U.S. Open court and wrote that “we are excited to announce the beginning of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).” The association — Djokovic said it was not a union, although the distinction wasn’t entirely clear — “did not emerge to be combative, to disrupt, or to cause any issues within or outside the tennis tour. Simply to unify the players, have our voices heard & have an impact on decisions being made…