Pro tennis tours file motion to
dismiss antitrust lawsuit from Djokovic's players' association
[May 22, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
The professional tennis tours and two other defendants jointly filed
a motion in federal court in New York to dismiss the class-action
antitrust lawsuit brought by the Professional Tennis Players’
Association, a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic.
“The PTPA is not a proper plaintiff in this lawsuit. The PTPA lacks
associational standing and antitrust standing, and the PTPA’s
presence in this lawsuit is not only redundant, but also an improper
attempt to circumvent class-action requirements,” Tuesday's filing
concludes. "The PTPA should be dismissed as a plaintiff."
The PTPA sued the WTA women's tour, the ATP men's tour, the
International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis
Integrity Agency (ITIA), which oversees anti-doping and
anti-corruption efforts in the sport, in March, calling them a
“cartel.”
The players are seeking a greater share of revenues and raised
various other complaints about how tennis is structured, including
limits on prize money and a lack of competition from rival tours or
tournaments.
The PTPA was started several years ago by 24-time Grand Slam
champion Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil with the aim of representing
players who are independent contractors in a largely individual
sport.
The group repeatedly has made clear it is not a full-fledged union,
does not have members and does not collect dues — all of which are
pointed to in the motion as reasons why the PTPA should not be
allowed to be a plaintiff in the case.
“The PTPA is improperly conflating its ‘membership’ with the
population of top players on whose behalf the PTPA purportedly
advocates, some of whom have already publicly disagreed with the
PTPA’s advocacy,” the filing reads. “Because the PTPA has failed to
plead that these players are actually its members, and in the
absence of an alleged injury to any actual PTPA member, the PTPA has
no standing.”
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A tennis ball is tossed in the air, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, in New
York. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
That motion came from all four defendants.
A separate motion, filed only by the WTA on Tuesday with the same
court, says that the male plaintiffs — 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick
Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka and Tennys Sandgren were among those named —
should not be suing the women's tour, and also argues that the
female plaintiffs — who include Sorana Cirstea and Varvara Gracheva
— should be compelled to go to binding arbitration instead of
pursuing the court case.
That filing says WTA players agree each to follow the tour's
rulebook, "which broadly states that ‘Any Dispute’ shall be
‘submitted exclusively’ to the American Arbitration Association ...
for a single arbitrator proceeding."
In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, the PTPA said:
“There is nothing surprising in their motions. We’ve researched all
the issues at length, before filing our case, and look forward to
responding in due course and having the judge decide.”
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