A rift is brewing between Federer-Nadal and Djokovic over the ouster of ATP president Chris Kermode

There has been a lot of furore recently regarding the ousting of Chris Kermode from the position of ATP Executive Chairman & President.

For all of those unaware, Kermode became the President of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 2013, after the death of Brad Drewett. Since then, things have been smooth and stable in the tennis world.

Currently, Novak Djokovic acts as the Chairman of the ATP Player's Council. The 12-member group consists of Kevin Anderson, John Isner, Robin Haase and Sam Querrey among others.

The Player's Council on March 7th decided against offering a new contract to Kermode. This has caused a rift between the players, and speculations of turmoil within the player community.

Many of the bigwigs including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have publicly announced their displeasure over the recent events.

According to TENNIS.com, Federer and Nadal have lashed out against the decision by the Djokovic-led council.

Federer, a former president of the Player's Council, said that he had tried to talk to Djokovic before the vote, but somehow he was turned down as Djokovic was busy. He also expressed a desire to know why the Council decided against continuing with Kermode.

Nadal on his part is a firm supporter of Kermode and of continuity. He has been vocal with his support towards Kermode, and told reporters that he didn't understand why the Council did not take the opinion of the players before making such a big decision. From Nadal's point of view, continuity is what tennis needs right now, and Kermode was the right candidate for that.

Djokovic has responded to the claims of Federer and Nadal by arguing that they should have contacted him if they had an opinion on the matter. Even though the Serb has not publicly stated his opinion on the matter, it is a known fact that he was never a fan of Kermode. Djokovic wanted to have more transparency in the division of revenues.

In recent times, tennis has become increasingly popular because of the camaraderie that the top stars share with each other. Unlike the older days, it is not a surprise to see major rivals having a laugh with each other.

Both Nadal and Federer have come out stating that they would like to have a say on where the sport goes next. Will this conflict take the peace and prosperity out of the game? We can only hope that it doesn't.

The sport if tennis is at a crucial juncture right now, and this whole fiasco could put it in a bad situation. The ATP has to tread carefully now, and look to dampen the amount of scrutiny already present.

Let's face it: Djokovic is the face of tennis now. So the onus is on him to lead the sport towards safe waters without drowning the people on board.