Goran Ivanisevic: 'I hope Novak Djokovic loses ATP Player Council presidency'

The ATP Player Council president and world no. 1 Novak Djokovic has had a bumpy ride as the leading figure of this ATP body. After many controversies with Chris Kermode in 2019 and different opinions on money distribution among the lower-ranked players, Novak is under fire again following the latest Adria Tour controversies, suggested by many to step down from the position. Djokovic is yet to suffer a defeat in the official matches in 2020, leading Serbia towards the inaugural ATP Cup title and lifting the 17th Major crown at the Australian Open. Novak claimed the 79th ATP title in Dubai against Stefanos Tsitsipas, playing his last match before the coronavirus pandemic halted the season since March.

Returning home to Belgrade from Marbella in May, Djokovic made a lot of effort to organize the event in front of the home crowd at Novak Tennis Centre, gathering Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov in Belgrade.

With no social distancing measures, the players competed in a football match before stepping on the tennis court and the packed crowd, spending time with kids and even visiting the night club where they danced close to each other. Last weekend, the Adria Tour moved to Zadar and there were no strict rules there, with players hanging out with kids on the public forum and enjoying a basketball game against the local club. The crowd was there to watch the matches but they didn't get a chance to see the final after Grigor Dimitrov announced on Sunday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Soon, Borna Coric, Viktor Troicki and Novak Djokovic were confirmed as well, with the entire tennis world blaming Djokovic for not applying more rigorous rules during both weekends. The Serb's coach Goran Ivanisevic is sick of all those stories against world no. 1, hoping he would go down from the ATP Player Council presidency as it brought him nothing useful so far, despite all of his efforts. 

"It's easy to be a general after the battle and many people couldn't wait for Novak Djokovic's mistake. He started to create something big after we all had been locked for three months. I can accept that the players probably shouldn't have gone to the Belgrade's nightclub, but no one was forcing them to dance close to each other or take the shirt off. Still, no one can claim that the pandemic started there. Marco Panichi wasn't at the party; I had spent almost two weeks with him, and his test was positive while mine was negative. That's not easy to explain. Djokovic's physio Miljan Amanovic had worked on Dimitrov's elbow in Zadar, and he is negative as well. I don't even want to comment Zadar; the city has fewer cases than many others in Croatia. In my opinion, I would love to see Novak Djokovic stepping down from the ATP Player Council presidency. Since he got there, everything he does is wrong. The attacks come from all over the world and that takes a lot of energy out of him, trying to make the right moves for our sport. "

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2BB886z