Taking tennis our bodies to court docket was final resort: Djokovic-led physique’s high official

Final Tuesday, the PTPA filed a lawsuit towards the boys’s (ATP) and ladies’s (WTA) excursions, together with the ITF and ITIA, over the way in which skilled tennis is run. It shook the tennis world and elicited different views from high gamers.

Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek distanced themselves from it; world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff acknowledged the difficulty of upper income proportion from prize cash for gamers; Djokovic, the physique’s co-founder, mentioned there have been elements of the 163-page lawsuit that he agreed with and didn’t, however added that he has “at all times fought for higher illustration, affect and positioning of the gamers globally in our sport, which remains to be not the place it ought to be”.

Nassar, PTPA’s government director since 2022, mentioned they “began to see some actual themes” across the main points whereas talking to gamers. Schedule, participant compensation, and total participant exploitation had been probably the most constant.

The tennis calendar, most gamers have concurred, is just too lengthy and hectic. The governing our bodies have reportedly mulled a restructuring of the tour, often called “premium tour”, with streamlined calendar and bigger pay. Nothing official has come out thus far.

“Everyone is form of caught. We hope these authorized actions will get everybody unstuck and transferring in the proper route,” Nassar informed HT.

“The schedule is an entire inefficient grind. You could have tournaments 12 months of the 12 months. No different sport does that.”

On compensation, the lawsuit mentions that the excursions “break up lower than 20% of their income with gamers”. Though the excursions and Grand Slams have incessantly raised the prize cash pot over time, Forbes’s 2024 listing of the world’s highest-paid athletes (on- and off-field earnings) doesn’t characteristic a tennis participant within the high 50.

“On the increased finish, the very best incomes tennis participant final 12 months made one thing like what the one hundred and fiftieth NBA participant made, though tennis is a world sport. The ratio of sponsorship {dollars} that these gamers generate to their earnings on court docket, it’s nowhere close to what a LeBron (James) or a (Lionel) Messi is incomes,” Nassar mentioned.

“After which on the decrease finish, how may a sport that’s performed by hundreds of thousands of individuals globally solely have a 100 or so gamers being web constructive (in earnings) yearly?”

Djokovic has spoken about tennis having “lower than 500 gamers” total which are capable of make a dwelling out of it, and the way most within the 250-500 rankings bracket — most Indian execs are in it — are unable to afford a coach on the tour. “This technique, it’s a pyramid, and it has to work for everyone in it,” Nassar mentioned.

He highlighted the anti-doping techniques and totally different balls “week to week and match to match” amongst different distinguished participant issues.

The lawsuit advocates for a free market, with out the monetary caps and restricted alternatives to play and earn past the excursions. Wouldn’t that, nonetheless, run the chance of getting no checks and balances? Nassar pointed to comparable lawsuits within the NBA within the Seventies and NFL within the 90s.

“In NBA, the difficulty was the participant draft. The NBA had that, and nonetheless do. But it surely’s a part of the system that was challenged and altered. In NFL, it was about free company. Everybody felt it will be anarchy. Not solely did it undergo, it empowered huge development in NFL. That’s our hope for tennis,” he mentioned.

Aside from Djokovic, who co-founded the physique with Vasek Pospisil in 2020, PTPA has some well-known present gamers in its government committee, together with former top-10 Ons Jabuer and Hubert Hurkacz. “This can be a player-formed and player-led group. They’re all very concerned in all the pieces we do, and supportive,” Nassar mentioned.

The governing our bodies have collectively responded in defence. The ATP mentioned they “strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, consider the case to be completely with out advantage, and can vigorously defend our place”. Because the authorized battle performs out, Nassar hoped for a negotiated settlement as the perfect resolution.

“A settlement that addresses all these issues to the satisfaction of gamers. And allows tennis to sustainably develop and take its rightful place alongside different international sports activities, which helps 1000’s {of professional} gamers and generates billions of {dollars} from incremental income.”