Johanna Konta and other members of the new-look WTA player council have held talks with their ATP counterparts in a bid to join forces and take on tennis chiefs in the fight for more prize money.
Konta and new council members Sloane Stephens and Gabriela Dabrowski have all spoken with Vasek Pospisil – a member of the 10-man ATP council – in New York in the days leading up to the event, in another intriguing move behind the scenes of tennis politics.
It’s understood Stephens has been lobbying hard to become actively involved in the political world and impressed enough of her WTA colleagues to earn her spot on the council.
Stephens and good friend Madison Keys were voted onto the council at the expense of multiple Grand Slam champions Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka – both of whom had been key figures in taking on issues facing the wider player body – as the WTA council moved in a youthful direction.
It’s a very different look to the ATP council – of which Novak Djokovic is the president – with 38-year-old Roger Federer returning to the political scene along with 33-year-old Rafael Nadal in the last month in order to calm the waters behind the scenes of men’s tennis.
Pospisil has been a particularly outspoken figure in the bid to get more prize money from the Grand Slams but he has now moved to get the female players on board in order to strengthen his attempts to hold the majors to account.
‘I’ve actually spoken to four of them,’ Pospisil said after his surprise win over ninth seed Karen Khachanov. ‘I’ve been talking to them the last three, four days.
‘The advantage of doing that is especially at the slams in general, we’re playing the same event, right? What affects one side affects the other. It just makes sense to collaborate and communicate, especially at the Grand Slams.
‘Obviously the ATP and WTA Tour are separate. They have their separate tournaments, their separate tours. There are some combined events.
‘If you talk about the Grand Slams, it’s one tournament with women and men. I just feel like it’s counterproductive to not communicate with them, to be honest, yeah.
‘I’m really super impressed with Sloane, to be honest. I had some good conversations with her. Gabby is up there, the Canadian. She’s really into it. I had some conversations with her. Then Johanna, had a few conversations with her as well.
‘Yeah, pleasantly surprised by how involved they are. Yeah, especially Sloane, I was pretty impressed with her mindset.’
Pospisil has been a busy boy during his stay at the US Open.
At the mandatory player meeting, he asked ATP officials to leave the room as he brought lawyers to address his fellow ATP stars, while it’s understood he has gathered around 100 signatures on a petition in a bid to lobby the Grand Slams for more money.
‘There are a lot of players, a lot,’ Pospisil added. ‘I’ll just leave it at that. We have big names, as well, depending on…
‘I think we’re just wanting to say, Hey, we’re here, let’s have fair talks, explanations, transparency. Explain why things have to be certain ways. It’s just a very gentle, Can we come to the negotiation table and can you just explain to us why it has to be a certain way, why it has to be 14% (of the prize pot at Slam level)?
‘The players are relatively powerless in their positions with the tournaments. We don’t have legal representation that just solely looks out for the players’ best interests. How are you ever going to have fairness, so to speak. It’s business.
‘It’s just hard to see guys that are 120, 130 in the world, dedicated their whole lives, they’re incredible athletes, incredible people to get to this level. To accomplish that in their lives, they’re getting overlooked, not appreciated. That’s just the reality, right?
‘I think that comes from many things because when you look at the Grand Slams, for example, there are 250 players playing, even in qualification. You can kind of dive into the reasons why maybe more guys should be getting paid a little bit better when they’re at this level.’
Federer and Nadal are not thought to be on board with the petition, which represents a problem for Pospisil and co..
Without the game’s biggest stars threatening a boycott, their power is significantly diminished.
There are question marks over whether Djokovic – who has made no secret of his desire to catch Federer in the all-time majors list – would really be willing to boycott the top events, a question posed to him by Britain’s Dan Evans at the meeting, according to The Telegraph.
