Vasek Pospisil has slammed the ATP for not allowing him, and Novak Djokovic, a chance to represent players in the ATP Player Council.
World No 1 Djokovic and Pospisil had resigned from the Player Council, reportedly due to pressure from the ATP, and former their breakaway player body called the Professional Tennis Players Association just ahead of the US Open.
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Earlier this month, however, there were reports that the duo had put their names back in the hat to be elected on the ATP Player Council. Denying reports that they had applied to re-join the ATP Council, Djokovic said they had been nominated instead by other players.
But the ATP shot down their nomination and ruled that those associated with any other player body could not be part of the Council.
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“When ATP found out that we were on the list they created overnight, they created a new law a new bylaw in ATP to prevent us from actually being able to go and represent the players,” Pospisil told Tennis.com in an interview.
One of the reasons cited for this move was conflict of interest between the two bodies.
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“But it is ok you have IMG representatives on the board,” queried Pospisil.
“There is such, it blows my mind that it is ok that there are all these other insane conflict of interests like in no other sport in the world, they gave a pass to that. It’s crazy, it just shows you how desperate they are to maintain.”
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The PTPA, which has reportedly even signed on some WTA players, is meant to be the only player body in the tennis ecosystem. Meanwhile, tournaments are 50 per cent stakeholders in the ATP.
Both Djokovic and Pospisil have insisted that the PTPA is not meant to be a rival organization and the two bodies can co-exist. But most of the top players, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, have not signed up with the PTPA.
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Many in the tennis world believe the rebel body is trying to divide the sport in a season of turmoil.
