The larger image: Pospisil added that the PTPA is tackling points past simply prize cash. | Photograph: Sudhakara Jain
Since August 2020, when Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil first sowed the seeds for the formation of the Skilled Tennis Gamers Affiliation (PTPA), the breakaway physique exterior the ATP’s ambit has had a gingerly existence.
Establishing the manager committee, inclusion of girls gamers (like Ons Jabeur and Paula Badosa) and the appointment of a full-time government director (Ahmad Nassar), all took time till August 2022.
However Pospisil, a former Wimbledon doubles champion and a singles quarterfinalist, feels the Affiliation, which has positioned itself as an organisation that prioritises gamers’ wants in distinction to the ATP which balances the pursuits of each gamers and tournaments, is already making “massive strides.”
At first of 2023, ATP introduced a 60% improve in whole prize cash (from $13.2m in 2022 to a document $21.1m). Pospisil felt that it was due to PTPA stress.
“They are going to by no means admit it…however even three years in the past when the brand new chairman [Andrea Gaudenzi] was coming in, he had no plans for the Challenger degree,” Pospisil, a PTPA government committee member, mentioned on the sidelines of the dafaNews Bengaluru Open.
“He was even brazenly speaking about it [money] being trickle down. So it’s for certain the stress of the Affiliation. It’s nice that we’re already having this affect not directly and that’s what we need to do.”
The Canadian mentioned that the ATP had nonetheless not warmed as much as the PTPA. However the group, which has additionally discovered assist from India’s Rohan Bopanna and Sumit Nagal, is aiming excessive and is tackling points past simply prize cash.
“There may be psychological well being…what to do after your profession, monetary planning, insurance coverage and so on,” the previous World No. 25 mentioned. “We want to construct an online of companies.
“Personally, the most important factor that folks don’t even find out about is life after tennis. No one is aware of about it till they retire and also you see all these athletes who’ve melancholy. As a result of they cease taking part in sport and all of a sudden they don’t have an id. It is extremely frequent.
“Constructing a platform for offering some assist, even educating a few of these gamers as to what can occur after tennis, that’s a giant one for me.”
