Australian Open accused of giving Federer special treatment; Djokovic backs rival
World number one Novak Djokovic has leapt to the defence of his great rival Roger Federer after claims the Swiss enjoys preferential treatment at the Australian Open and on the ATP World Tour.
Key points:
- Australlian Open organisers face claims of giving Roger Federer too many night matches
- Tournament director Criag Tiley is accused of a conflict of interest in relation to Federer
- Novak Djokovic believes Federer deserves to be given special treatment
Retired professional Julien Benneteau caused a stir during an interview on French radio station RMC Sport at the weekend when he said tournament referees were often kinder to Federer when it came to scheduling his matches.
Benneteau, a French journeyman who reached a career-high ranking of 25, was particularly referring to the Australian Open, a tournament Federer has won on six occasions.
He said 20-time major singles champion Federer played "12 or 13" of his 14 matches at Melbourne in the past two years at night, so avoiding the often scorching daytime temperatures at the Open.
He also suggested Federer's Laver Cup project, an exhibition team event in which Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley is also involved, represented a conflict of interest.
"When he [Federer] promotes the Laver Cup, there are a number of conflicts of interest that have become disturbing," Benneteau said.
"In the organisation of this event, there's Craig Tiley, the boss of the Australian Open, who deals with marketing and television rights.
"He [Tiley] is paid by Roger Federer's agent and, on the back of that, as luck would have it, Federer played 12 of his 14 matches at 7:30pm."
Asked for his thoughts after his victory over John Isner at the ATP Finals in London, Djokovic said Federer had earned the right to be treated differently to other players.
"In the end of the day, in a way he deserves the special treatment because he's six-time champion of Australian Open and arguably the best player ever," Djokovic said.
"If he doesn't have it, who is going to have it? People want to see him play on the centre court, and they want to see him play in showtime, the best hours, which is 7:30 at night in Rod Laver Arena.
"I understand Julien's point because sometimes it does seem that maybe certain players get more favoured year after year in certain tournaments.
"On the other side, you have to understand that Federer is a driving force of tennis in terms of revenue, in terms of attention.
"Julien and guys like him are also benefiting from tennis, because of Roger, because of what he has done for the sport."
Isner went even further, saying the likes of Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal should receive even more privileges.
"If anything, maybe they should get more special treatment because those guys, the top players, have made other players below them a lot of money," Isner said.
"It is like the Tiger Woods effect in golf. So that is how you can look at a guy like Roger. He is men's tennis in my opinion. He deserves everything and more that he's ever had."
Reuters/ABC
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