'I am surprised that Novak Djokovic is surprised', says former Top 10

The great tennis stops until the beginning of the new season, with a calendar yet to be defined. Meanwhile, the latest update of the ATP ranking has arrived, which sees Novak Djokovic close 2020 as number one, with a wide advantage over Rafa Nadal. Not too far from the Majorcan is Dominic Thiem, closely followed by the winner of the ATP finals, Daniil Medvedev. Fifth Roger Federer who is preparing to return. Following Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Diego Schwartzman. Novak Djokovic claims that the ATP has implemented a new rule preventing PTPA members from joining the Player Council. Jurgen Melzer has now hit out at Djokovic for that accusation, saying that the rule has been in place since 2006.

Melzer on Novak Djokovic

The Austrian claimed there has been a law since as far back as 2006 which states that players part of a concurrent players' union are not allowed to join the Council. "Novak Djokovic talks about the fact that certain regulations were put in place, overnight, so that no one from the PTPA was allowed to participate in the council," Jurgen Melzer said. "This is absolute nonsense. These statutes have been in existence since 2006." Jurgen Melzer, however, believes that it is perfectly reasonable to bar PTPA members from joining the ATP Council. "It seems quite logical to me that it is impossible to be in two associations which are 'concurrent'," Melzer said. "So I am surprised that Djokovic is surprised. And especially that he thinks that this rule has been developed against him overnight." Post the resumption of tennis, Djokovic has not had the best of results on the court. The Serbian star has been involved with matters of the court too. Novak was disqualified from the US Open this year as he hit the ball on a lineswoman. The Australian Open champion even left the ATP Player Council and established the Professional Tennis Players Association in hope of voicing the concern of players who were less privileged. Overall, 2020 proved to be a great season for Djokovic. He won a total of 2 Masters and a Grand Slam title. However, what really became the highlight was his disqualification at the US Open 2020. He played really well at the French Open 2020 too, but lost to the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal. After the rejuvenating time, Djokovic will be returning to the court at the Australian Open 2021. He will be looking forward to defending his title in Melbourne. If the Serbian succeeds at winning the title, it’ll be a hat trick of Australian Open titles for him.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3qhxawn