MADRID: On the same day he played his opening match at the Madrid Open, Novak Djokovic continued to take center stage in the ongoing political argument engulfing men’s tennis.
The latest installment for Djokovic, who also addressed the topic on Monday, concerned Stan Wawrinka’s letter to The Times newspaper. In it, the Swiss player took aim at the ATP over their management of Justin Gimelstob, who recently resigned from the board following an assault charge. Wawrinka went on to question the logic behind the removal of Chris Kermode and the effectiveness of the player council. A group which is headed by Djokovic himself.
“From one side, I do like the fact that he wants to get involved, he wants to express his opinion. I encourage that in every player.” Djokovic said of Wawrinka.
“But I did not agree that he went out in the media, posting a letter before speaking out to the guys from the council. And I’ve told him that and I understand his views, of course. There are a lot of fair points that he makes.’
“I think there is maybe a different way that that could be done in terms of communication.”
Djokovic’s clash of opinions with Wawrinka highlights the division there is within the governing body of men’s sport regarding who should lead them and what should be changed. However, the Serbian is eager to prove that he is not involved in some sort of verbal war with his rival. Hence why he recently posted a picture of the two together on social media following a discussion.
“I always had a very honest and open relationship where we said what we think about each other or situation without any problems and that’s what I respect about our relationship. That is why we have always been very good friends off the court as well and as much as we are rivals on the court.”
Once again forced to speak about the turmoil, the 31-year-old said a lot of the fallout concerning Gimelstob revolves around a ‘misunderstanding’ of the information. Arguing that the full details about the situation was never disclosed to the public.
Now there is a race to find Gimelstob’s replacement, which will be decided later this month in Rome by the council. Up to 15 people have declared an interest, including Brad Gilbert and Dani Vallverdu.
“The tennis world has to go on and that is how it is. And I think all of us need to be stronger after the whole situation with Justin and everything that was going on in the last four or five months.” Djokovic states. “There’s been a lot of pressure on the council and just a lot of maybe people stepping out in the media and just speculating and expressing their opinions without really checking first with us. And that’s the part which I personally don’t like.”
On the court, it was more straightforward for the 15-time grand slam champion. He kicked-off his Marid bid with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2, win over Taylor Fritz on Tuesday. A 21-year-old American who has been ranked as high as 40th in the world rankings. It was a simple task for the world no.1, who claimed 85% of the points behind his first serve without getting broken once. Hitting 16 winners to 12 unforced errors.
“I have played against the guy who serves well and plays really quick. But the beginning of the match was kind of close and then I think 3-All, when I managed to make the break and saved a breakpoint in the next game, I thought that was the turnaround, the turning point in the match.” Djokovic evaluated about his latest performance.
“I thought the second set I read his serve better and just managed to put an extra ball in to the court and he made a lot of unforced errors. “
This year Djokovic is bidding to win the Madrid title for the third time in his career after 2011 and 2016. Should he do so, he would become the third player to achieve the milestone. Following in the footsteps of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
