Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have rejoined the ATP players’ council, an intriguing twist to the power struggle at the top of the men’s game.

The unexpected development, confirmed on Thursday, will complicate the rumoured ambitions of the council president, Novak Djokovic, to replace the ATP’s chief executive, Chris Kermode, with Mark Leschly, CEO of Universal Tennis Rating, a rival to the ATP’s long-established ranking system. Leschly is the son of the millionaire Danish businessman, Jan Leschly, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1966.

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Federer and Nadal have joined Jürgen Melzer as replacements for Jamie Murray, Robin Haase and Sergiy Stakhovsky, who left the council just before Wimbledon this year. Djokovic complained during the tournament that a “one-sided agenda” was being leaked to “certain media”. He said: “It’s a very complex process … the vote to decide if we want Chris to stay or someone else to come in.”

The latest move will further complicate lobbying on the 10-member council, who voted at their last meeting, in Indian Wells in March, not to renew Kermode’s contract, which expires at the end of 2019 after five years. However, Kermode is understood to be preparing a rebuttal to his critics at the players’ next mandatory meeting, which will take place in New York at the end of the month before the start of the US Open.

Other members of the council are Kevin Anderson, John Isner, Sam Querrey, Bruno Soares, Lu Yen-hsun, Vasek Pospisil and Colin Dowdeswell.

Federer and Nadal, the two most influential voices among the elite players who have dominated tennis for the past 15 years, will “begin their roles with immediate effect and will serve until the end of the existing term which runs through to Wimbledon 2020”, the ATP announced on Thursday.