Billie Jean King asserts Novak Djokovic-led PTPA is 'not doing enough' for women stars

Former women's world number one Billie Jean King slammed the Novak Djokovic-led Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) for its sexist behaviour with women. The PTPA is deemed to be an organisation that is aimed at giving players more of a say in the operation of the sport, and also a large share of the revenue. Even though the organisation aimed to include women in the decision-making process, King asserts that she was never consulted and that the organisation is clearly not doing enough for women.

Billie Jean King slams the Novak Djokovic-led PTPA

While speaking to The New Yorker magazine, Billie Jean King slammed Novak Djokovic for not being a good role model for the sport as he neglects women tennis players. When asked whether she was consulted in the decision-making process for the PTPA, she responded, "They didn’t. They never talked to me, so I don’t know what the thinking is. When I was at Wimbledon, I kept asking people, but nobody seems to know anything."

Jean added, "They’ve definitely improved their website—they’ve got politically correct language now. They only talk about the women if they’re pushed, though. That’s not good enough. They’ve got heavy hitters, they’ve got money—Djokovic is definitely going to be the best ever, which is really important. But I don’t know how much people want to follow him."

Billie Jean King explained the advice she would have given to PTPA

Billie Jean King further went on to slam the sexism that exists in tennis. Speaking of how she was interested in pursuing an association for both men and women together, she said, "I would’ve just continued behind the scenes. If you go back to the 60s, when we finally got pro tennis, I went around to the men, trying to get one association: the men and women together. They rejected it. It was a rough time, because these guys, some of them are my dear friends, and they didn’t care. And it’s still rough, because, generally, the men don’t really care about us. I don’t see any big push with the women with this new association."