The Professional Tennis Players Association, along with 22 players, have filed multiple lawsuits in several countries against the ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA. The suit alleges that those international tennis organizations have engaged in anticompetitive business practices that suppress their potential earnings and cast aside health and safety concerns, according to ESPN.
PTPA executive director Ahmad Nassar, who has worked with the NFLPA in the past, claims that players are being exploited by aforementioned organizations.
“Tennis is broken,” Nassar 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.”
The complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, obtained by ESPN, describes the ATP, WTA, ITF and ITIA as a “cartel” that works together to fix tournament prize money. The suit also alleges that some tournament owners won’t even allow players to request an increase in prize money.
Other allegations include unfair name, image and likeness deals, a lower cut of revenue sharing than other professional sports, privacy violations via drug testing and poor tournament and match conditions.
The players association has filed suits in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. One of the players named in the suits is Vasek Pospisil, co-founder of the PTPA and 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion.
Pospisil explained that he began his career sleeping in his car while traveling to matches. He noted that would never be allowed to happen for rookies in the NFL or any other major league.
“I’m one of the more fortunate players and I’ve still had to sleep in my car when traveling to matches early on in my career — imagine an NFL player being told that he had to sleep in his car at an away game,” Pospisil said. “It’s absurd and would never happen, obviously. No other major sport treats its athletes this way.”
The PTPA hopes that these suits will create a handful of positive changes for the players. Among them are better scheduling, higher revenue sharing and more consideration for players’ concerns.
Other notable names in the lawsuit include Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka, Sorana Cirstea, Ingrid Neel and Corentin Moutet.
Nassar and Pospisil said the PTPA met with over 250 players about the suits, and the majority were supportive. However, many players were concerned about putting their name on the suits due to fear of “repercussions.”
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