Novak Djokovic wants players on the ATP tour to be able to represent themselves.
At the annual men's player meeting in Melbourne on Friday, the 12-time Grand Slam champion and president of the ATP player council implored his peers to band together and create an independent players' union, according to The Daily Mail's Mike Dickson and The Telegraph's Simon Briggs.
As of now, the players' interests are represented by the ATP, a governing body comprised of the player council, a tournament council, and a board of directors.
Witnesses told Dickson and Briggs that toward the end of the meeting, Djokovic asked all non-players present - mainly ATP, Tennis Australia, and Australian Open officials - to leave the room so he could speak privately and directly to his peers. Then, with a lawyer present, he presented his plan to unionize and push for more prize money.
According to Briggs, Djokovic illustrated his case by comparing the share of tournament revenue paid out to tennis players (approximately seven percent) to that received by other pro athletes, like NBA players (who earn about 50 percent of basketball-related income).
Player council vice-president Kevin Anderson confirmed to reporters after his first-round Australian Open loss Monday that the discussion had taken place, but said it was "very brief" and that "there is not a lot of substance to it right now," according to James Gray of the Express.
Anderson said the primary goal of increasing prize money at tournaments is to widen the band of players who can make a sustainable income playing on the tour full time.
"Things have got a lot better from where we were four to five years ago," the 11th-ranked South African said, according to Briggs. "Now if you are top 100 you are making a good living. I think we want to push that to 150, 200 and keep going.
"I can completely understand that guys feel they want more. I think we do deserve more. But I also understand the opposite perspective. Our tour is 50 percent players, 50 percent tournaments. There are some frustrations and challenges with that but at the same time there's balances and checks as well. We'll keep trying to find a solution."
