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Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Tennis News

Novak Djokovic willing to battle Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal but admits: ‘I want them on board’


Novak Djokovic says he wants the support of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for his new Players’ Association, but accepts he will have to go against his influential rivals.

Djokovic divided tennis last week when he resigned from the ATP Player’s Council and revealed plans to make a breakaway organisation.

There has been some support from other players, but also significant resistance too – most notably from Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who presented a united front against the world number one on social media.

Djokovic, though, is no stranger to batting those two star names, and he doesn’t appear daunted by doing it again.

“Of course I would love to have Roger and Rafa on board,” Novak Djokovic said. “Of course I would love to have all the players on board.

“But I understand they have different opinions and they don’t think the time is right.”

“We are not calling for boycotts, we are not forming parallel tours,” he said.

“We are focused on the top 500 players in singles and the top 200 in doubles. We hope we can get the majority of those players.

“I think this is an important step for players and for the sport.”


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.