Back to the Tennis Newsfeed

At Wimbledon, Behind-the-Scenes Tennis Politicking Comes to the Forefront

Andrew Couldridge/Reuters

WIMBLEDON, England — Novak Djokovic is the No. 1 seed and the defending champion at Wimbledon, but in the first week of the tournament, his status as ATP Player Council president has been the bigger burden.

He rolled through his first two matches with ease, but in his three tournament news conferences, he has faced pointed questions about his leadership of the council.

On Wednesday, Djokovic had a tense six-minute exchange with a reporter about his relationship with Justin Gimelstob, a former player representative on the ATP board who resigned in May after pleading no contest to a battery charge.