Professional Tennis Players Association likens ATP, WTA to a cartel in federal lawsuit

USA Today

20-03-2025

Professional Tennis Players Association likens ATP, WTA to a cartel in federal lawsuit
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The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) has filed lawsuits against major tennis organizations, including the ATP and WTA, alleging antitrust violations and exploitation of players.
The PTPA, which claims support from over 250 players, argues that these organizations act as a "cartel" to limit player earnings and control the tennis schedule.
The lawsuit specifically criticizes the organizations for capping prize money, restricting off-court earning opportunities, and implementing a demanding tournament schedule that jeopardizes player health.
The PTPA also accuses the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) of employing overly aggressive and intrusive investigative tactics, including excessive drug testing and invasive searches.
The Professional Tennis Players Association sued several organizations, including the ATP, WTA and International Tennis Federation, likening them to a "cartel," alleging several antitrust violations, systemic abuse, collusion to reduce competition, exploiting players financially, and forcing athletes to play an unsustainable schedule.
Court documents filed in New York City, London and Brussels and obtained by USA TODAY Sports, name 22 players, including Vasek Pospisil, Nick Kyrgios, Sorana Cirstea and Reilly Opelka as plaintiffs, who demand a jury trial.
"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."
The Professional Tennis Players Association, which was co-founded by 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic and Pospisil in 2019, says their mandate is to unite and mobilize "tennis players to foster transparency and fairness in professional tennis."
The 162-page lawsuit filed Wednesday details some of those complaints and the PTPA says they are backed by more than 250 players, many of whom are ranked in the top 20.
"Defendants do so by capping the prize money tournaments award and limiting players' ability to earn money off the court," the lawsuit says. "Rather than being determined by market forces, players' earnings are instead subject to limitations agreed upon by the defendants and their co-conspirators."
Another grievance in the lawsuit is the tour schedule, which the lawsuit says the men's tour, the ATP, "schedules an annual slate of over 60 tournaments in which male players play," leaving little time to rest and recover.
"Defendants do so by capping the prize money tournaments award and limiting players' ability to earn money off the court. Rather than being determined by market forces, players' earnings are instead subject to limitations agreed upon by the defendants and their co-conspirators."
The lawsuit says that four Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open, are co-conspirators with the defendants who use the tournaments "to enrich themselves at the players' expense, to the detriment of fans and the game."
The International Tennis Integrity Agency, which says it tries to safeguard tennis to make sure the sport is free from corruption and doping, is also a defendant in the case.
"The ITIA's aggressive, unrelenting, and, at times, illegal investigative processes subject players to dozens of drug tests (both blood and urine), invasive searches of their personal cell phones, hours-long interrogations without counsel, and harassment by unaccountable and ill-trained investigators," the lawsuit says.