I’M NOT GREEDY
Djokovic denies leading money grab as he hits top form on comeback
The easiest part of the day for Novak Djokovic turned out to be the small matter of returning to the tennis court for the first time in six months.
Showcasing his truncated new serve, the six-time champion took less than two hours to make his way into the Australian Open second round with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 demolition of American Donald Young.
he was happy to talk about that later, less so the annual ATP player meeting of last Friday, where he unexpectedly asked tour officials to leave the room so he could lead players to discuss what he described as ‘certain topics’.
These revolved around getting more direct representation to promote their interests. As he commented yesterday, referring to the current structure of the tour being a partnership between the players and tournaments: ‘It’s not easy because a lot of times there’s a conflict of interest.’
Treading carefully, he denied that he personally had brought up the subject of a potential boycott of the Australian Open.
he also denied that there was, specifically, a lawyer present. There was, however, a renowned Australian law professor who specialises in labour and strike matters on hand to offer counsel.
Djokovic was not happy at some interpretations of what went on. ‘You have portrayed me as someone who is very greedy, asks for more money,’ he alleged.
The former world No1 did not want to confirm that his plan is to form a breakaway union but he left little doubt that there will be further occasions when the players ask to be left alone.
‘I’m really happy that we got a chance, all of us players, to speak together in one place for an hour,’ he said. ‘It was subjects that we never get a chance to talk about in such a large group.
‘That’s all it was. everything was done in a normal, polite way. Players wanted to stay alone.’
World No4 Alex Zverev, who insisted his priority is playing and not politicking, affirmed: ‘We had a separate meeting as players from the ATP. Novak was mostly talking.’
Roger Federer beat former Brit Aljaz Bedene, meaning the formidable trio of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic reached the second round for the loss of just 20 games between them.
Stan Wawrinka, who like Djokovic has been out since Wimbledon (after knee surgery), fought past Ricardas Berankis in four sets. Another returnee is Maria Sharapova, who now faces her US Open conqueror Anastasija Sevastova, after she disposed of Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-4. When asked about whether it had been appropriate, given her 15-month suspension, to parade the trophy in last week’s draw, she replied with unintentional grandeur: ‘I was invited to be part of the draw by Craig Tiley (tournament director) and the tournament organisation and I kindly accepted.’