Novak Djokovic says he knows exactly how some lower-ranked players feel because he was in a similar situation when he started out. He was from Serbia and didn’t have a strong league behind him or a big budget to pay for his career, so he had to work hard to get where he is now.
Djokovic, who has won the Grand Slam tournament a record 24 times, started the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) in 2020. When Djokovic started the PTPA, he said that its goal would be to fight for better rights and conditions for all players.
At the time, Djokovic made it clear that his top goal was to help the lower-ranked players. “I was in their shoes, so I know how hard it is. I know how hard it is to pay for travel costs if you don’t have the support of a big organization, which 90% or more of players around the world don’t have, and if you don’t have the money to pay for teachers and trainers.
I didn’t have any of that when I was in Serbia. Now that I have power and influence, I want to work for better conditions. We talk a lot about how much money the winners of the US Open make, but we don’t talk about how many men and women, singles and doubles, make a living from this sport as a whole.
Less than 400 people play a sport that is played all over the world and is one of the most watched sports in the world. This is bad. Djokovic told ESPN that was a bad thing for our sport.
Djokovic wants to be known for more than just his success in tennis
Djokovic has done more on the court than anyone else. He is the first person to win 24 Grand Slam titles, and he also holds the record for the most weeks spent as the world’s best player.
But Djokovic also wants to leave a mark outside of tennis before he leaves the sport for good. “I want to be remembered for something on and off the game. “I would love for my peers and colleagues to remember me as someone who had a lot of success in tennis but didn’t just think about himself but also thought about other players and made sure that while he was at the top of the game, he was using his influence, his status, his profile, and his contacts to make things better for players and the sport as a whole,” Djokovic said.
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