Djokovic urges a boycott of next year’s Aussie Open but his plan has big flaws

● Serbian, who’s also proposing a players’ union, may struggle to get others on side

Novak Djokovic is trying to persuade his fellow players to boycott next year’s Australian Open, with the former world No 1 rallying the troops behind his demand for more prize money.

At the pre-tournament ATP players’ meeting, a mandatory event for all male main draw players that is also attended by ATP officials, Djokovic hijacked proceedings as soon as the meeting was opened up to questions from the floor. Apparently, he marched up to the stage, asked all ATP officials to leave the room and then introduced an Australian lawyer who specialises in labour law.

Once the lawyer had said her piece, Djokovic proposed to the assembled throng that they boycott the 2019 event. In effect, that they go on strike.

The Serb wants to form a separate players’ union, one that can represent the players’ needs and wishes within the ATP but without being beholden to the tournaments they play in. At the moment, the ATP board is split 50-50 between tournament representatives and players. The feeling is that the board, therefore, cannot represent the players’ needs fully or freely.

Djokovic’s main claim is that the players receive only seven per cent of the total revenue generated by the grand slam events,afigurethat,inhisview, does not compare favourably with the sharing of rewards offered by the NFL and NBA in the United States. Current estimates are that American football shares out around 48 per cent of the sport’s total revenue while basketball shares the spoils pretty evenly at 50 per cent for the NBA and the same again for the players.

It is believed Djokovic’s trade union stance has the support of Andy Murray, Gilles Simon and Alexander Zverev, while Djokovic and Simon have ulterior motives: both are less than keen on equal prize money for men and women and would like the grand slams to be “decombined”.

Murray, still in Melbourne following hip surgery a week ago, has always been a staunch supporter of women’s rights and equality issues. While he may support the idea of a trade union, it’s highly unlikely he wouldhaveanythingtodowith a move to give men priority – and more cash – over women.

That Djokovic announced his boycott idea just after Australian Open director Craig Tiley had told the meeting that the event would increase the prize money by Aus$5 million to Aus$60m next year with the aim of reaching Aus$100m within five years, sounded a tad greedy.

That Djokovic, the first man to break the US$100M barrier in prize money by winning the French Open in 2016, is the force behind this does little for his image. And the fact the lawyer Djokovic brought with him seemed to imply that a player boycott in Melbourne would be legally easier to organise and maintain under Australian labour laws than it would elsewhere under European or American laws just seems daft.

According to local media, Aussie labour laws not only rule against strikes but, says ABC (Australia’s equivalent to the BBC), they are: “not only in breach of international law, they are without peer among advanced economies with a tradition of civil liberty in oppressing the right to strike”.

The other huge rock upon which Djokovic’s grand plan could founder is formed of the players’ own self-interest.

Billie Jean King announced on Saturday that if she were still playing today, she would refuse to play on the Margaret Court Arena as a matter of principle following Court’s homophobic statements in the past couple of years. At the time, there was much sage nodding of heads and a general murmur of support from all quarters. But when individual players were asked if they, too, would refuse to play on that court, not one said yes.

The official line from all was that they play where they are told to; it is not their choice. The unspoken message was that it was a grand slam, they had a shot at glory and there is the best part of £35,000 on offer for losing in the first round – they would not refuse to play. US Open champion Sloane Stephens continued her losing run when she lost to Shuai Zhang 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 2-6 in the first round at Melbourne.

Defeatbythechinese was her eighth consecutive loss and Stephens has not won a match since her stunning triumph in New York. But Stephens believes the negativity about her form is unfair.

“I won a grand slam, I’m going through a tough time,” she said. “Who cares? No one cares about my life. I’m just having fun. I’m enjoying it.

“There’s too much emphasis on the bad things that happen after something really great happens. That kind of sucks.”

All four women in the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows were from the US but three of them are already out, with 10th seed Coco Vandeweghe beaten 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 by Hungary’s Timea Babos.

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko has bucked the trend by showing great form after her maiden slam triumph and she eased into round two with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Francesca Schiavone.

Dark horse Julia Goerges won her 15th straight match 6-4, 6-4 over Sofia Kenin but former finalist Dominika Cibulkova was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Kaia Kanepi.

There were confident starts for two of the title favourites in the evening session.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki eased past inform Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 6-3, while fourth seed Elina Svitolina was a 6-3, 6-2 winner against Ivana Jorovic.

The youngest woman in the draw, meanwhile, continued her brilliant start to her grand slam career.

Fifteen-year-old Marta Kostyuk was given a wild card into qualifying after winning the junior title last year and won three matches to reach the main draw.

In her first-ever tour level match, the Ukrainian shone in a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 25th seed Peng Shuai from China.