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Novak Djokovic denies reports he wanted Australian Open boycott

Novak Djokovic clenches fist - AP
Novak Djokovic clenches fist - AP

Novak Djokovic returned to the match court for the first time since last year’s Wimbledon. It was a big moment for the tennis tour, yet the focus afterwards was less on his remodelled service action than his desire to reform the sport.

On Margaret Court Arena, Djokovic disposed of Donald Young in the most untroubled manner, flicking the ball into gaps with a casual mastery that will have sent ripples of concern around the locker room. For a first official match in six months, it was almost insolently brilliant.

But it is Djokovic the politician who is dominating the news agenda. Reports from those present at his speech to the annual player’s meeting on Friday – who did not include officials from the Association of Tennis Professionals, as Djokovic had asked them to leave the room – say that he was pushing for the formation of a new, player-only union.

Yet that was not the impression that Djokovic himself wished to put across, when he arrived in the interview room. “Some of you have written a story that has been a little bit exaggerated,” Djokovic told reporters, after his 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 thumping of Young. “You've taken things out of context. I saw that you've portrayed me as someone who is very greedy, asks for more money and wants to boycott.

“I know that you guys are trying to take this forward several steps,” Djokovic added. “Obviously you're talking about union, you're talking about boycott, you're talking about radical decisions so we can get financial compensations the way we deserve it. But there was no talk about that. We talked about things that we talked about. That's all.”

The issue is probably now closed for the moment. Several other players – including Kevin Anderson, the South African who works with Djokovic on the ATP player council – have suggested that his main motivation is to help lower-ranked players, especially those around the No 150 or 200 mark.

Beyond the Baseline | Read Charlie Eccleshare's three-part series on the unseen side of top-level tennis

But the tournaments Djokovic believes should be offering bigger pay-outs are the grand slams, because they are the richest events. And they only really cater for players in or around the top 100. Tennis’s inefficient governance structure – which is a constant tug of war between seven different bodies – makes it horribly difficult to achieve significant change.

To return to the action, Djokovic will have a much sterner test on Thursday against Gael Monfils, the French enigma who is probably the most dangerous unseeded player in the draw. His new service action, which involves a much shorter backswing, performed respectably enough. But then Young was so thoroughly ineffectual that Djokovic was never in need of a clutch serve on break point down.

Roger Federer also made his entry to the tournament. The defending champion was smoothness personified against Aljaz Bedene, the Slovenian who spent a couple of years playing under the British flag before reverting to the country of his birth. Federer needed only 1hr 39min to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Afterwards, Federer was asked about the ease with which the three big guns have moved through to the second round. “If you put Rafa, myself and Novak together, I think we have margin against a lot of the players normally,” said Federer. “Because of our results, we just back ourselves. Mentally and physically we're going to be there.

“The question is, is our game good enough? I didn't see much of Novak today, but the result shows he was breezing. But the next one's clearly a big test against Gael. Follow that one closely.”

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