Djokovic and Isner among ATP walkout as player council grows closer

On the eve of the U.S. Open, men’s tennis has been split, with a breakaway group of players insisting that they want to leave the ATP and form their own Players Council in protest at the treatment of players by the governing body of tennis.

Led by Novak Djokovic, the proposed Professional Tennis Players’ Association is in direct competition with the ATP Players Council, which Novak Djokovic quit to set up this independent player body.

Djokovic is also in direct conflict with the other two men who form the ‘Holy Trinity’ of male tennis legends – Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and the Serbian himself. Both Nadal and Federer remain members of the Players Council in the ATP, and Andy Murray hasn’t joined the splinter group either.

That said, well over five dozen players have signed up, including players such as John Isner, and Vasek Pospisil, the Canadian being one of the players who are behind the PTPA too.