"Definitely feeling pressure & our growing player support" - Novak Djokovic's PTPA praised by Vasek Pospisil as ATP introduces new minimum-wage policy

Canadian tennis player Vasek Pospisil praised the ATP for its new minimum-wage policy for tour players and especially credited the Novak Djokovic-led Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) for its role in bringing about the change.

The ATP announced on Tuesday, August 22, that the organization will provide players with minimum income from 2024 onwards. The policy, called 'Baseline,' aims to address concerns about players' financial interests as they travel globally to compete in tournaments and ensure their well-being.

Under the new structure, ATP will provide fixed incentives to top 250 players each season. Baseline, the first-of-its-kind program in the history of the ATP Tour, will initially be launched for a three-year trial.

Vasek Pospisil took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to applaud the seismic change. The Canadian credited the PTPA, which was founded in 2020 by Novak Djokovic and Pospisil to look after their colleagues' interests and advocate for changes in ATP and WTA, for playing an instrumental role in the introduction of Baseline.

Pospisil argued that this was the "bare minimum" that the ATP could do for players and added that it was nice to see his organization have a "positive effect" on the tour already.

"Definitely feeling the pressure from @ptpaplayers and our growing player support and unrest on the tour. Even though it’s bare minimum and near zero risk to the ATP, it’s good to see the PTPA already having a positive effect this early on," Pospisil wrote.

According to 'Baseline,' players in the top 100 ATP rankings will be paid a minimum of $300,000 annually. Players ranked between 101 and 175 will receive $150,000 and players ranked in the 176-250 range will receive $75,000 per year.

Novak Djokovic- "PTPA is an association that can step up and 100% represent players' rights and interests"

Novak Djokovic

The World No. 2 recently reiterated his vision behind establishing an organization outside the traditional ATP and WTA ecosystem. In a video posted on social media by the PTPA, the Serbian legend argued that the organization was created to fully represent players' interests, which are often looked over by the two main associations.

"PTPA is an association that can finally step in and represent fully and 100% players' rights and players' interests in this particular area as well as any other area. We only hold players' interest in our hands and we want to make sure we deliver the best for players," he said.

Novak Djokovic went on to say that ATP and WTA have conflicts of interest as they are comprised of both players and tournaments.

"ATP, WTA, it's conflict of interest because it's 50% of WTA or ATP is players. 50% is tournaments Because players want to they deserve to have, but then, they can't outvote the other side that is opposing them on a particular issue," the 23-time Grand Slam champion stated.

Many prominent players from both tours have joined Novak Djokovic in the PTPA. This includes Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Hubert Hurkacz, John Isner, Bethannie Mattek-Sands, and Zheng Saisai. PTPA also recently welcomed Kim Clijsters, Sania Mirza, and Marcos Baghdatis to their team.