I don't think they are trying to go back as you mention. If I remember correctly, the procedure is that the players in the tour nominate some council members who then stand for election. I think the lower-ranked players nominated Djokovic and Pospisil because they believe these people represent their best interests which is perfectly fine I feel. This just shows how strong they are. (
Link).
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See that image and how blatantly the media has spun it and how nobody covered the tweet from Elias where the current council
reduced money from the qualifiers and 1st rounds and
increased prize money for the later rounds. That has to be a red flag showing that the current players council dont stand for the players
Do not believe any of the spins of the media, remember the conflicts of interests etc present right now. They will support the establishment because that is where they get their slice of the pie from. I don't think you can trust those news articles take because they only show 1 light
The screenshot of the tweet for your reference
In March/April Novak approached the ATP executives about helping lower-ranked players struggling with the freeze and was rejected. In April he organised a relief fund for lower-ranked players himself with the top players helping lower ranked players. The need for an organization exclusively of players became evident because of that. In August the PTPA was launched. Players received threatening letters from the ATP, but they still signed it anyway. Gaudenzi asked Novak&Vasek to resign from the Player Council as a result which they did.
The remaining players in the council (which includes
Murray) now voted to decrease the prize-money for qualies and initial rounds and increase it for later rounds. In effect taking money from the lower-ranked to give it to the higher-ranked (which is coincidently themselves). This didn't go down well with the players and Gastao Elias complained publicly
In the meantime, the PTPA was trying to work with the ATP. When a new council had to be elected, players nominate candidates to form the new council and then vote. That's the system that has worked and has always existed. So that's what they did, a large number of them nominated Vasek&Novak showing their full support.
*After* they did, the ATP added a new rule stipulating that players involved with PTPA could not be nominated. So players are not allowed to nominate who represents them in the Player Council, let alone be allowed to vote: they cannot even nominate their candidates.
The ATP cannot afford a vote, they are very happy with a Player Council voting with the tournaments against players' interests. The fact remains that players are not being allowed to choose their representatives' thanks to a rule hastily introduced They couldn't even risk a vote, so they had to act like a totalitarian regime, denying their members the right to vote for their representatives. And many of the same people who are applauding the triumph of democracy are on the side of the totalitarians.
I think the rule vindicates the PTPA. If it was true that Novak and Vasek are unpopular, they should let him run for the nomination and lose. Let players vote decide the matter. If it was true that the PTPA is irrelevant, why take any notice of it and introduce such a rule
