The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), founded by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, has filed a lawsuit against governing bodies: the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour (ATP Tour), Women’s Tennis Association Tour (WTA Tour), the International Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Integrity Agency for allegedly keeping earnings artificially low.
According to The Guardian, The PTPA filed a 163-page complaint in the U.S. district court for the southern district of New York. The complaint features 12 current and former tennis players as plaintiffs. This includes Djokovic, Pospisil, Nick Kyrgios and Sorana Cirstea.
The 12 athletes are accusing the governing bodies of keeping earnings artificially low by systematically suppressing competition, manipulating prize money structures and enforcing restrictive ranking systems that allegedly block players from collecting alternative earnings.
The PTPA’s official statement reads: “Following years of good-faith efforts to reform professional tennis, the PTPA has taken decisive legal action. The lawsuits expose systemic abuse, anti-competitive practices, and a blatant disregard for player welfare that have persisted for decades.”
PTPA’s lawsuit references a case from the Indian Wells Open. The billionaire owner of this tournament, Larry Ellison, was prevented from increasing prize money by the ATP and WTA.
In response to this, PTPA Executive Director, Ahmad Nassar, expressed that he believes “tennis is broken.”
He continued: “Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardises their health and safety.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit highlights that players can only gain ranking points by competing in ATP and WTA sanctioned events. The PTPA argues that this prevents players from earning an alternative income and forces them into an unsustainable schedule of 45 weeks per year. “Overloaded” schedules have been a dominant reason for lawsuits within sport as of late.
Additionally, the PTPA argues that when these governing bodies enforce non-compete clauses and fines for athletes who participate in different tournaments, they are abusing their power. Recently UCI was sued in an EU antitrust case regarding concerns about anti-competitive practices.
The lawsuit also condemns the fact that the ATP removes eligibility for pension benefits and player council participation for those aligned with the PTPA. It also criticises the governing bodies for making athletes compete in extreme heat and late at night, referencing the Australian Open and U.S. Open.
Djokovic expressed: “We need a system where players have a voice and can negotiate for their rights like athletes in other major sports.”
Pospisil himself voiced: “I’m one of the more fortunate players, and I’ve still had to sleep in my car when travelling to matches early in my career. Imagine an NFL player being told he had to sleep in his car at an away game. It’s absurd. No other major sport treats its athletes this way.”
The athletes are also accusing the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) of practising anti-doping and anti-corruption methods which are allegedly too invasive and infringe upon their rights, including intrusive searches of their personal devices.
The governing bodies have responded in the following ways:
The ATP expressed: “While ATP has remained focused on delivering reforms that benefit players at multiple levels, the PTPA has consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation over progress. Five years on from its inception in 2020, the PTPA has struggled to establish a meaningful role in tennis, making its decision to pursue legal action at this juncture unsurprising…
We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position…
ATP remains committed to working in the best interests of the game – towards continued growth, financial stability, and the best possible future for our players, tournaments, and fans.”
The WTA stated: “The PTPA’s action is both regrettable and misguided, and we will defend our position vigorously in due course. The WTA is fully committed to continuing to develop and evolve the structure and operations of professional women’s tennis, listening closely as always to the views of our players…
Contesting this baseless legal case will divert time, attention, and resources from our core mission to the detriment of our players and the sport as a whole.”
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) voiced: “We can confirm we have received a letter detailing the PTPA’s legal action and will take the appropriate time to consider our response.”
The ITIA expressed: “any credible international sport requires robust anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes, and we are proud of our role in contributing to a clean and fair sport.”
If the PTPA is successful with the lawsuit, it could possibly spark the restructuring of revenue-sharing models and ranking systems within tennis.
A copy of the lawsuit can be found here.
