Novak Djokovic appears to have U-turned on a matter he’s been at odds with Andre Agassi over. The tennis legend will soon begin the defence of his US Open title.
But before the fourth and final major of the year gets underway at the weekend, Djokovic will be participating in sponsor Head’s pickleball tournament on Thursday (August 22). The racket sport has shot to popularity in the States particularly in recent years.
But it was just last month at Wimbledon, after his third-round victory over Alexei Popyrin, that he claimed it was “endangering” the sport he’s been so successful in. Djokovic called on tennis chiefs to buck up their ideas.
“Tennis is a very global sport and it’s loved by millions of children that pick up a racket and want to play, but we don’t make it accessible. We don’t make it so affordable,” he passionately explained.
“Now we have the padel that is growing and emerging. People kind of have fun with it and say ‘yeah, but tennis is tennis’. Tennis is the king or queen of all the racket sports, that’s true. But on a club level, tennis is endangered.
“If we don’t do something about it, as I said, globally or collectively, padel, pickleball in [the] States, they’re going to convert all the tennis clubs into padel and pickleball because it’s just more economical.