Sacking of Chris Kermode Delights The Low-Ranked Tennis Players

The executive chairman and president of ATP, Chris Kermode will be stepping down from his post, since his six-year-old contract with the men’s tour will come to an end this year. Regarding Kermode’s egress, there have been mixed responses from the players of the ATP circuit.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, and Stefanos Tsitsipas have straightforwardly mentioned about their discontent subject to Kermode’s removal. The tennis gods, Federer and Nadal have condemned the World Number one Novak Djokovic’s notion for unseating Chris Kermode from his echelon.

However, in a Challenger event, a veteran voiced out his support for Djokovic’s perspective. “Djokovic is absolutely right,” as addressed to Metro.co.uk. “The wealth is not shared anywhere near well enough. It’s all very well Nadal and Federer being happy with Kermode – they get a huge slice of the pie! Don’t get me wrong. The top-10 players deserve to make a handsome living out of this sport. I just think more could be done to help us, lower-ranked guys.”

“Everyone is hammering them (the ITF) but the ATP is throwing them under the bus,” he continued. The ITF are blinkered but at least they are trying to do the right thing. They have good intentions. The ATP, it just feels like a power grab. They want the ITF to fail for their own benefit.”

Additionally, to a certain degree, the low-ranked tennis players are disgruntled with Kermode’s service. As a matter of concern, the World Number 68 Dutch, Robin Haase articulated his thoughts about Chris Kermode and his tenure on the behalf of the low-ranked athletes. 

“It’s not easy and what you also have to remind them a little bit is that the council is there to advise, not to make changes,” Haase said. “That’s our board that does that. We have no voting rights whatsoever. ‘So it’s a little bit, I feel like, should they be heard more in the media? Why should they actually be talked about in the media at all?”

In the interim, the ATP tour would remain without CEO once Chris Kermode walks out. The tournaments will be taking place without any obstruction, however, the advancements on the tour are expected to be sluggish until a replacement of Chris Kermode is found.

Haase expressed his perspective regarding the same. “It’s going to be tough, for sure,” Haase continued. “I don’t like that the tournament, how the tournament side is now saying they really don’t like it. Half a year ago they said they would kick him out. It’s always a little bit of a situation where why do we get the media involved? It’s not necessary.”

“We have to figure it out ourselves. I hope we can. In the end, that’s why I came to the council to try to make a difference for tennis. I think we need to work together, the players have to work with the tournaments and not only think about themselves because if the tournaments do well, but the players will do also better, but it’s also a circle,” Haase mentioned. 

Fabio Fogini’s coach, Franco Davin mentioned his opinion on the revamped format of the competition in his Instagram story. He communicates the shortcomings of the new ATP Ranking system where it is becoming difficult for the budding players to enter the ATP roster. He expressed that, many athletes who dream to be a professional tennis player tend to leave the sport and divert their energy in other activities.