Novak Djokovic has expressed his views on a lot of topics this week in Melbourne, but one central theme that keeps surfacing is his acknowledgement of the lack of influence of the players in the inner workings of the sport. He spoke about it with reporters after his controversial victory over Gael Monfils on Thursday in Melbourne (see video above) and he opened up even more to Serbian reporters after his media session.

Djokovic seems eager to find a way to get the players more say in big decisions that impact the game, such as the heat policy that was talked about yesterday, or the schedule, or changes to the rule book.

“The primary thing is to buy tickets, make money, to comply with television requests, and only at the fourth and fifth place there is what the player thinks about everything,” he said, according to Saša Ozmo, a Serbian journalist. (Article translated with Google Translate)

“Somehow we are viewed as animals in the cage. I do not want to sound unhappy, on the contrary, I'm exceptionally grateful for the nice life I've been doing, the finances are very good and I'm privileged to be in the sport I love but again, I have the right and I think it's right to say my attitude to public. These days are something we should talk about and to point out some things we do not think are correct.”

Djokovic also gave his views on the heat policy, in English.

“I think, you know, there are certain days where you just have to, as a tournament supervisor, recognize that you might need to give players few extra hours until it comes down. I understand there is a factor of tickets. If you don't play matches, people will be unhappy. You have to take into consideration different angles before making a big call like that. But I think there is a limit, and that is a level of I guess tolerance between being fit and being, I think, in danger in terms of health.”

And he expressed his frustration with the current status quo, which might explain a lot about his decision to hold a behind-closed-doors players only meeting prior to the tournament to discuss the possibility of unionization.

“You're a part of the industry,” he said on Thursday. “Our sport has become an industry, like most of the other global sports. It's more business than a sport. At times I mind that, I don't like that.”

He added: “It's very complex subject to talk about. You have to understand what the player goes through. When I say you're part of the industry, you're just adding up events there. There is no indication that we're going to have any form of discussion for a shorter season or anything like it. We're just adding events, official events, unofficial events. It feels, from a player's perspective, that you're kind of always in a rush. You're always obliged to play the mandatory events. You obviously have always a big challenge to defend points because it affects everything. You're always constantly, week after week, being part of that dynamic of our sport, which is at times -- at times, it seem as bit too much.

“But it's our choice, at the same time, whether we want to play or not. So I don't want to sound ungrateful. In contrary, I'm very grateful. But I also think that there should be some kind of rational conversations about, you know, rules that are maybe imposed or certain things that are concerning players' well-being.”