Rivals for supremacy on the tennis court, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have now become political allies off the court in an attempt to take more control over the direction of their sport.
Next Saturday in London, two days before Wimbledon begins, those three are all but certain to be voted on to the Player Council of the Association of Tennis Professionals. The election of the world's three top men's tennis players would be a most unusual move in an era when the game's stars are typically more preoccupied with hitting big forehands and maximizing their big earnings than addressing the broader issues facing the sport.
But Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are concerned about the current leadership of the ATP and about the potential impact of a lawsuit filed by Hamburg tournament organizers. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are running unopposed for three of the four slots reserved for players ranked 1 to 50. There is still a remote possibility that one of the three stars might not join the council because of regional quotas that restrict total European representation on the 10-member council to 5 slots.
"It's a great thing that the top three are involved and a great thing that they are concerned and want to help the sport," said James Blake of the United States, an outgoing council member. "Probably all we should ask of them is to go out and play the game, because they are the best advertisement for our sport right now. But they are doing more. It's like getting an A+ on a test and still going for extra credit."
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have expressed reservations about the ATP chairman, Etienne de Villiers. With his contract ending later this year, all three signed a letter in March along with the majority of the top 20 that demanded that other candidates for the chairman and chief executive position be identified and interviewed.
There has been dissatisfaction with some of de Villiers's decisions, such as the failed experiment to introduce a round-robin format at low-level tour events last year. But the bigger issue is apparently a perceived lack of communication between the players and the ATP board of directors, which is the tour's primary decision-making body. Nadal, the dominant clay-court player, has also been upset by attempts to restructure the clay-court schedule.
"Controversy - nobody likes it," Nadal said in an interview in Paris shortly after he won his fourth straight French Open. "I prefer to play tennis and have tranquillity, which in many cases we are lacking. But with the ATP, there have been moments when we were simply not informed about things that they were going to do.
"Our complaint is that we have representatives on the board who do not represent the players. They are our representatives, but they aren't representing us. They're representing the head of the ATP.
"So we're going to try to get involved at the heart of things, so in that way, we can be aware of things before they happen."
Blake agreed that the board's management style needed to change. "We don't need to be treated like little children," he said in Paris. "We are athletes, but we can make decisions, and we need to be consulted."
Though player unions and collective bargaining agreements are the rule in many professional sports, men's tennis is different. The ATP is a joint venture between the tournaments and the players. The board of directors has six members: three elected by the Player Council and three chosen by the tournaments, with de Villiers, a former Disney executive, serving as chairman and the tie-breaking vote.
The players' dissatisfaction led to the move last month by the Player Council to vote Perry Rogers off the board. Rogers, the close friend and longtime agent of the former champion Andre Agassi, has been one of de Villiers's primary allies and advisers in developing and negotiating a new structure and calendar for the men's tour in 2009.
The changes would be more evolutionary than revolutionary, but de Villiers has emphasized that he needs commitment from the top players in order to package and sell rights to the revamped tour.
The board has already approved a system whereby the top players must commit to play (or in case of injury, attend) all eight of its top tournaments or risk financial penalties and suspension. The board is also requiring that the top players commit to 4 of the 11 events in the second tier.
The four Grand Slam events, the most prestigious in the sport, are not run by the ATP.
The new commitment policy has not been welcomed by all the top players or their agents, who are concerned, in part, about losing guaranteed paydays at smaller tournaments. Rogers, who was perceived as having his own agenda by some top players, was removed despite direct lobbying on his behalf by Agassi, who telephoned several of the council members.
The decision to remove Rogers was not unanimous. The American doubles star Bob Bryan said he was one of those who voted to retain him.
"I thought Perry was really valuable to Etienne just with his negotiating skills and experience," Bryan said in Paris. "Everyone listens to Perry Rogers when he talks. I was sad to see him go. I thought it was a bad decision."
Rogers did not return a phone call seeking comment, and de Villiers declined to comment except to say that he welcomed the prospect that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic would join the council.
"How could I not be excited about our three leading players getting more involved?" he said. "The more they know, the better it will be for the game."
Kris Dent, an ATP spokesman, said that in an attempt to bridge any communication gap, the top 10 players had been offered the chance to have someone representing them in the boardroom to report back. "That offer was made months ago, and we've heard nothing back," Dent said.
Federer, ranked No. 1, and Nadal, No. 2, have developed a friendly, respectful relationship and have had frequent discussions this season. Djokovic, the 21-year-old Serb now ranked No. 3, has joined with them. "With Novak, we do talk, and I'm happy he's interested in the future of tennis; it's important," Federer said in Paris.
With Rogers out, the two remaining player representatives on the board of directors are Iggy Jovanovic, a former communications director for the ATP, and Jacco Eltingh, a retired Dutch player who was once ranked No. 1 in doubles.
Jovanovic's term ends at Wimbledon, which means that there will be two open board slots to be filled by the outgoing Player Council on Saturday. Among the declared candidates for Rogers's slot are Blake's older brother Thomas Blake and the former American tour player Justin Gimelstob. If Jovanovic does stand for re-election, he will face opposition. There is also the possibility that the outgoing council may vote Eltingh off the board and elect an entirely new threesome.
"We are at the most important moment for our sport in 20 years," said Ivan Ljubicic, the Croatian veteran who is president of the existing council. "The next two to three months are critical."
That is largely because of the anti-trust lawsuit filed against the ATP by the tournament organizers in Hamburg, whose clay-court event is set to be downgraded from the top tier of tournaments in 2009. The suit is scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in Delaware in late July.
"It all depends on the lawsuit," Ljubicic said. "If the ATP wins, the ATP presumably stays as is. But if Hamburg wins, we don't really know what happens. It could change the whole sport. It could cost the ATP more than it has."
The ATP has reportedly already spent more than $7 million on fees related to the case. "The $7 million figure is a speculative figure," Dent said. "I can't comment on confidential details like cost. Clearly, we're in the middle of a process. What's important to remember here is that the ATP, like most corporations, has insurance to cover most issues like litigation costs. And it's in our bylaws that members who sue us and lose must pay all legal costs in full."
With the lawsuit blocking final plans for 2009, it has been difficult to procure sponsorship, although Dent said the "interest from the commercial world has been extremely encouraging."
Dent said that if the 2009 plan goes forward, the tour has already secured a 36 percent increase in prize money for next year along with an $8 million bonus pool and "almost a billion dollars" of investment from tournaments in new stadiums and improved facilities.
Hamburg is the last of three Masters Series events on clay leading into the French Open, preceded by Monte Carlo and Rome. But Hamburg has struggled to attract all the top players in recent seasons even though it was ostensibly a mandatory event. The ATP plan is to reduce the number of mandatory spring clay-court tournaments to two: Rome and Madrid, which would move from its indoor slot in the fall and become a combined women's and men's event.
Madrid organizers are building one of the most elaborate tennis complexes in the world, which includes three stadiums with retractable roofs. "I think it's going to take European tennis to another level and be a beacon of light for the sport next year, a real sign of success," said Larry Scott, head of the women's tour. "So I think it would be a terrible shame if that did not come to fruition for whatever reason."
International Herald Tribune
By Christopher Clarey
