Thu, May 08, 2025
PTPA Achieves Initial Success in Case Against ATP Tour
The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA), founded by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, has been moderately successful in its lawsuit against the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals Tour (ATP Tour).
The PTPA’s official statement said: “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.”
Following this, the PTPA then sought a court order, as reported by BBC Sport, as it accused the ATP of pressurising athletes into signing premeditated statements which said they had no prior knowledge of the legal action surrounding the March lawsuit against the aforementioned governing bodies.
The plaintiffs allege that, for example, when the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells considered increasing prize money by $1.6 million to attract top players, the tournament was told it could not proceed.
The plaintiffs also claim that an ATP player representative pressured players to sign pre-written letters denouncing the lawsuit. When one player refused and tried to take a photo of the statement, he was allegedly stopped and warned that ATP leadership would be informed of his response.
Therefore, the PTPA sought a court order to prevent the ATP from participating in “improper, coercive or threatening communications” with players.
Judge Margaret Garnett agreed that the ATP had engaged in “potentially coercive, deceptive or otherwise abusive” behaviour. Garnett ruled that an ATP official tried to sway world number two Alexander Zverev and 13th ranked Ben Shelton. Garnett highlighted that athletes are “vulnerable to economic coercion” as the tournaments which provide them with an income are largely organised by the ATP tour.
Garnett officially ruled that the ATP is banned from “retaliating, or threatening retaliation” against any player involved in the March lawsuit and wider action. However, Garnett refused to comply with the PTPA’s wish for the disclosure of past communications between the ATP and players surrounding the lawsuit. Garnett also refused to implement a blanket ban on the ATP Tour’s communication on the litigation.
Garnett’s verdict was that a blanket ban would “harm the ability of the ATP to permissibly discuss and respond to this litigation in lawful ways.”
The ATP has voiced: “ATP acknowledges the court's ruling and will promptly comply with its directions. We remain committed to supporting our players, upholding the integrity of the game, and fully defending ourselves in the ongoing legal proceedings.”
Even though Djokovic is the co-founder of the PTPA and is a plaintiff in the March lawsuit, BBC Sport reported that there are elements of this wider lawsuit with which he agrees, and some with which he does not, and that he was therefore not heavily involved in this aspect of the wider legal action.
If the PTPA is successful with the March lawsuit, it could possibly spark the restructuring of revenue-sharing models and ranking systems within tennis.
A copy of the March lawsuit can be found here.
