The professional tennis tour and two other defendants jointly filed a motion in federal court in New York to dismiss the class action antitrust lawsuit filed by the Association of Professional Tennis Players, a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic.
PTPA sued the WTA Women’s Tour, ATP Men’s Tour, International Tennis Federation (ITF), and International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
Players are seeking a large portion of their revenue and have raised various other complaints about the tennis structure, including prize limits and lack of competition from rival tours and tournaments.
PTPA was founded by 24-time Grand Slam champions Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil with the aim of representing players who are independent contractors, primarily in individual sports.
Ahmadnassar, the group’s executive director, has repeatedly stated that it is not a full-fledged union, has no members and has not collected membership fees. All of this was pointed out in one of Tuesday’s moves as the reason why PTPA is not standing as plaintiffs in the case. The allegations came from all four defendants.
Another move filed solely by the WTA, claims that male plaintiffs — 2022 Wimbledon runners-up Nick Kyrgios, Riley Opelka and Tenny Sandglen should not sue women’s tour — are alleging that female plaintiffs.
“I’m not surprised by their actions,” PTPA said in a statement to the Associated Press. “We investigated all the issues in detail before submitting the case, and we look forward to responding to them in time and making a decision to a judge.”
