INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Novak Djokovic played his first official tennis match in more than a month on Saturday night, defeating the American Bjorn Fratangelo in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open.

But Djokovic has hardly been taking an extended break from official tennis business.

Back at No. 1 in the world by a hefty margin, he is also wielding his renewed clout off court as president of the ATP player council. As a result of his maneuvering, the men’s tour is in need of a new chief executive along with some collective purpose and peace of mind, which are likely to remain more elusive than Djokovic and his allies might like.

As ever, the tension is between the players, who understandably want to maximize their earnings in a brutally competitive sport, and their paymasters, who own and operate the tournaments and understandably would rather keep prize money under tight rein. But the unusual and inconvenient thing in men’s tennis is that the players and paymasters are part of the same internally conflicted organization: the ATP.

“We are really blocked,” said Gilles Simon, the French player and a former council member. “The structure works against us and the imbalance being already there between the tournaments and the players, the imbalance endures.”