LONDON (Reuters) – The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) has actually submitted a legal action versus the sporting activity’s controling bodies, charging them of anti-competitive methods and a neglect for gamer well-being.
The PTPA, co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2019, claimed on Tuesday that after years of good-faith initiatives to change expert tennis, it had actually been compelled to take lawsuit.
In a declaration, it claimed that together with greater than a loads gamers the PTPA had actually submitted documents in a New York court versus the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
“Tennis is broken,” Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the PTPA, claimed in a declaration. “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 actually worn down all choices for reform via discussion, and the controling bodies have actually left us no option yet to look for responsibility via 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.”
Describing the numerous controling bodies as ‘a cartel’, the PTPA charges them of paying “artificially low compensation to professional tennis players” and enforcing a “draconian” ranking system that requires them to complete in particular events.
It likewise calls the timetable unsustainable, claims gamers are made to play in severe warmth and in the very early hours of the early morning which tennis spheres are triggering persistent injuries.
Prior to submitting the legal action, the PTPA claimed it consulted with greater than 250 gamers throughout the scenic tours, consisting of most of the males’s and ladies’s leading 20.
“The overwhelmingly positive player feedback was a resounding confirmation — change is needed now, and players are united in their fight for reform,” the declaration claimed.
The ITF, ITIA, WTA and ATP have actually all been gotten in touch with by Reuters for remark.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
