The tennis revolution | Juan Pablo Paz …

This restructuring plan developed in the bowels of the International Tennis Federation with the aim of facilitating the transition to professionalism, born at the beginning of the year under the name of Transition Tour and later called ITF World Tennis Tour, was going to terminate.. This attempt by the authorities to divide the professional rankings into two parts would last barely half a season and would not survive the greatest resistance. The tennis players themselves are the ones who have planted the flag and unleashed a revolution to end the injustice and find the lost: possibility to add ATP points again in the Futures – Third level professional tennis tournaments – which has since awarded only units to the new ITF ranking. Indeed, the fight has borne fruit: from Monday, everything will return to normal.

"The change has been terrible for Futures players because we did not know what we were aiming for. At that time, I was at 400 ° and they told us that Futures would no longer give ATP points but ITF points. It was necessary to play and many thought at the time to play Challengers, because if the Futures did not give points, it would make no sense. Then you went to Qualys of the Challengers and that it was a mbadacre, there were 60 players for 32 rankings and you did not know if you participated, "said Juan Pablo Paz. at Regarding the nightmare he experienced between the announcement of the new circuit and the first months of implementation, in despair of inflating the harvest of ATP points and not falling into the ITF scale. Argentina, 24, who reached 284 ° in 2017, is one of many tennis workers who does not enjoy the luxury of the elite. And from the trench of this sport he was decisive in a fight that the players won without any support from the leadership.

–How did you experience the changes?

– Everything was wrong from the beginning. It was disrespectful, they played with our money. For me, it's been a year and a half lost, with a lot of money thrown in the trash, because last year I lost many weeks playing in the Challengers' Qualengers; Many times I stayed outside and when I walked in it was very hard. That gave me a lot of anger, I do not understand how the International Federation could do something like this. I came with little confidence and these changes have complicated me. This is not an excuse, but it has disrupted the mental aspect due to the uncertainty and the fact of not knowing what to do. I do not have a lot of money and I even wondered if it was worth it to play. Every peso that I invest, I want to know if it is well invested. This year, I hurt my back – he has not played since March because of moving a vertebra in the lower back – and I think it was because of the stress of this situation. I worried because it was my career, my life, I could not sit idly by.

–How did the fight take place?

–At each tournament, he talked to the players to find out what they thought of these changes. The conclusion was that there was no one who accepted. If we are the ones playing and there is no one to hear, it is because something is wrong. We are not the ones on TV and I understand that the ITF and the ATP are rejecting us, but that is why we understood that we were the ones who had to fight. One morning we were in Tunisia with three Argentineans, Mariano Kestelboim, Franco Egea and Gregorio Shoemaker, and we decided to do something. We organized a meeting and almost all tournament players came. Tennis is very individualistic, many are comfortable in their situation and we did not expect so many people. But it was so unfair that all players jumped on the same side because we were the hardest hit. If we did not fight for ours, we were cooked. We started the move, we made videos on YouTube, we created a Facebook group called "Players Vs. ITF ", we tried to viralize the fight to reach the ATP players who could help us. We tagged Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella and Guido Andreozzi, for example, and they shared the material. It was very important that the senior people, the academies, Toni Nadal himself help us.

– They needed a jump to be heard …

– We needed someone to get access to the guys who run everything. The principal was Dirk Hordorff (NdR: prestigious German coach, former coach of Rainer Schuettler and Janko Tipsarevic, among others). That was the head of this fight. I already had a relationship with him, he had helped me a lot in previous years and it was him who spoke to me about the changes before they met him. And this year, he has become a great character in this fight, because of his weight and his desire to be heard. The unity of the players was very positive: now the decisions will not be as easy for the ITF.

– What was the role of the Argentine Tennis Association in the fight?

– At the time I was quite disappointed with the AAT because on social networks they supported these changes. I could not believe it, because everyone was injured, but the most affected were the South American players. I imagine that in the AAT, they had to have their reasons to support the ITF, maybe they had their hands tied. Otherwise, it would seem very strange.

– Has any of you had any contact with management?

–Nobody contacted me. Before I had tried to communicate with them; I called the Association to find out if they could help us in the fight we were facing, but they told me that they were very busy because they were not there. they had just taken over and that they had a lot of problems. (Editor's note: the management led by Cordoba Agustín Calleri was badumed in May 2018). It's also arrived with COSAT. Are you the South American Tennis Confederation and do nothing? Do they hurt any players who represent you and will not fight for us? No South American federation has supported us, although I do not understand that they have supported the Davis Cup format change. But there are things behind that we do not know.

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Betting and inequality go hand in hand

The plague of betting and the provision of matches in tennis are constantly growing. Far from ending with the real bettors' machinery, the ITF has come to suspend several players involved via the TIU – Tennis Integrity Unit – but the company continues to operate.

"The ITF earns a lot of money with match betting and players get nothing. Prices have risen very little compared to what they earn. The NBA gives some of the winnings to the players, for example; The players are part of the company. Here they play with our name, I have not allowed anyone to put my name in a bookmaker and people can bet on my games. Of the money you bet, I do not see any weight. I think the ITF could help a little more, "said Juan Pablo Paz, clearly disagreeing with the livescore system that benefits the Paris gambling mafias and the tennis authorities themselves.

The 24-year-old tennis player also thinks the problem lies in the distribution of money: "Fortunately, I've never had contact with bettors, but there are players who fall by need. If the ITF wants to eliminate the betting problem, it must spread the winnings and leave a percentage. This is tempting for the players as they can offer you a lot of money; today, if you are a champion in the future, you win a thousand dollars and I guess if you bet on a match, you can win a lot more. Tennis is very expensive, the money below is low and that is why it is very difficult to judge. Everything is very unfair, there are cases that the TIU could not win in a legal process because there is no evidence; It is very difficult to prove that you have corrected a match. In many cases, they suspend you because they suspend you and you have to go to the very expensive TAS court in Switzerland. They also play with this because a Future player can not pay to go to TAS. "