By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday March 24, 2021
Vasek Pospisil took to Twitter to apologize for his tirade against ATP brass on Wednesday in Miami.
Photo Source: Getty
Hours after Vasek Pospisil went viral with his profanity laced tirade against the ATP’s management, and his three-set loss to American Mackenzie McDonald, the Canadian cooled down and took to Twitter to apologize for his actions.
Pospisil, who shocked the tennis world on Wednesday when he called out ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi (not by name, but by title) and told umpire Arnaud Gabas that he had to sit there and be yelled at for 90 minutes during a meeting held with players and ATP executives in attendance.
“I want to sincerely apologize for my behavior on the court in Miami earlier today,” Pospisil tweeted. “I disrespected the game I love and for that I am truly sorry. By way of explanation, I felt deeply unnerved during a meeting between players and ATP executives last night.”
“I underestimated the toll those emotions took on me until I stepped onto the court today,” he concluded.
It was all we heard from Pospisil, who was not called to press after his loss on Wednesday, which meant that there were likely no requests from media to speak to him.
More will be said about the incident, as other players were likely in attendance and can give their perspective about it. What they say--if they say anyting--will certainly be a window into the current state of politics between the players and the management of the tour.
Until then we are left to speculate about the true nature of the meeting and the reason that Pospisil was forced to endure a 90-minute tongue lashing, presumably by ATP CEO Gaudenzi.
There were hints before that something was being planned—perhaps a player strike or some type of protest against the tour—last week. Stefanos Tsitsipas alluded to this in his press conference at Acapulco, saying that things that would be happening that explained the absence of certain players in Miami. Tsitsipas declined to say anything more about the subject, but his words seemed to forewarn.
Many Top 100 players have chosen not to play the tournament, and while it may simply be due to the fact that Indian Wells has been postponed and it makes less sense to travel to American for one tournament, especially during a pandemic, many believe that the reduced prize money that top players are receiving this year is a root cause for the tension, and thus the mass absenceses this week.
Perhaps it is not actually the money, as John Isner hinted today, but the fact that the ATP will not be fully transparent about how much money they are earning during the pandemic so that the players can get a clearer picture of whether or not they are being treated fairly. Pospisil himself has been frustrated for years by the ATP's unwillingness to be transparent, and has cited his desire to conduct a full audit of the tour's books so the players may know where they stand.
What’s clear is that Pospisil, a founder of the PTPA (a pro-player spin-off of the player council formed last summer to give the players a larger voice on the tour) along with Novak Djokovic, had wanted to further unite the players in cause this week in Miami, was met with resistance from the ATP’s brass and did not take kindly to it.
His apology is geniune, but it doesn’t give any indication that the struggle between the parties will cool off. For now, we wait eagerly to see what the other players in Miami have to say about it.