By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) - The Professional Tennis Players' Association (PTPA) has filed a lawsuit against the sport's governing bodies, accusing them of anti-competitive practices and a disregard for player welfare.
The PTPA, co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2019 to give players more power over their careers and earnings, said on Tuesday that after years of good-faith efforts to reform professional tennis, it had been forced to take legal action.
In a statement, it said that along with more than a dozen players the PTPA had filed papers in a New York court against the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
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"Tennis is broken," Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the PTPA, said in a statement. "Behind the glamorous veneer that the Defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardizes their health and safety.
"We have exhausted all options for reform through dialogue, and the governing bodies have left us no choice but to seek accountability through the courts. Fixing these systemic failures isn't about disrupting tennis, it's about saving it for the generations of players and fans to come."
The ATP accused the PTPA of choosing "division and distraction" and having no meaningful role in the sport.
"We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position," the ATP said in a statement.
"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."
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Legal action has also begun in Britain and the EU, the PTPA said.
Describing the various governing bodies as 'a cartel', the PTPA accuses them of paying "artificially low compensation to professional tennis players" and imposing a "draconian" ranking system that forces them to compete in certain tournaments.
It also calls the schedule unsustainable, says players are made to play in extreme heat and often in the early hours of the morning, that tennis balls chosen by the tournaments are a factor in causing chronic injuries and that players' privacy rights are being abused by random drug tests.
Prior to filing the lawsuit, the PTPA said it met with more than 250 players across the tours, including the majority of the men's and women's top 20.
"The overwhelmingly positive player feedback was a resounding confirmation -- change is needed now, and players are united in their fight for reform," the statement said.
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Serbia's 24-times Grand Slam champion Djokovic has been a fierce advocate for change to the organisation of tennis, insisting lower-ranked players get a bad deal.
"Women and men who are around 200 and lower ranked in the world, they are struggling a lot," he said in a CBS 60 Minutes interview in 2023. "They can't afford a coach, they can't afford travels, they skip tournaments, many of them leave tennis who are super talented and maybe capable of reaching great heights."
The ITIA, which manages the sport's anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes, said it would not comment on the PTPA's lawsuit. The ITF and WTA have also been contacted by Reuters for comment.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris, Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)
