Tennis players accuse ‘cartel’ major tours of antitrust violations in class action

MANHATTAN (CN) — A group of athletes in the Professional Tennis Players Association, an organization founded by tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, sued the sport’s biggest governing bodies on Tuesday for operating as a “cartel” to suppress competition.

In a 163-page lawsuit filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, the players accuse the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour, the Women’s Tennis Association Tour, the International Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Integrity Agency of violating antitrust laws with contracts that kill competition.

The renowned Grand Slam tournaments — Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open — are co-conspirators, the players claim, that colluded with major governing bodies “in order to enrich themselves at the players’ expense, to the detriment of fans and the game.”

“Professional tennis players are stuck in a rigged game,” the players argue. “Not on the court, where fierce competition between players delights millions of fans worldwide, but off of it, where players are forced to endure grueling schedules, capped earnings, abusive and invasive investigations and discipline, and have limited control over their own careers and brands.”

The domination of these governing bodies in tennis has led to the “monopolization” of men and women’s tennis, the group asserts, denying players’ rights to fair competition.

“This is because a cartel of tour organizers and tournament operators have conspired to avoid competition amongst themselves and to shut out outside tournaments, affording them complete control over the players’ pay and working conditions,” the players write. “These horizontal and vertical agreements are textbook violations of state and federal law.”

As a result, the group says that tennis’ top organizations are allowed to exercise “callous” power over their players. Athletes can be fined for playing in alternative tournaments, and suspended for withdrawing from events run by the defendants, the players note.

“Defendants will penalize players even when an absence results from an injury, the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one,” the group continues. “And the grueling 45-week-per-year schedule that defendants and their co-conspirators impose — comprising dozens of tournaments spread across six continents — all but ensures that players lack any practical ability to play elsewhere.”

The Professional Tennis Players Association spent the past several years pushing for change by negotiating with the defendants directly, according to the players. Tuesday’s lawsuit represents an escalation in those efforts after the group says it has been “repeatedly strung along and then rebuffed” by the governing bodies.

In addition to New York, the group also vowed to file lawsuits in the European Union and the United Kingdom.

“Tennis is broken,” the Professional Tennis Players Association’s executive director Ahmad Nassar said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “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.”

Nassar said that the legal action came after the governing bodies had left them with no other choice.

The Association of Tennis Professionals Tour said in a statement Tuesday that it “believe[s] the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position.”

The Women’s Tennis Association Tour called Tuesday’s lawsuit “regrettable and misguided,” and similarly agreed to defend itself in the impending litigation.

“The WTA is fully committed to continuing to develop and evolve the structure and operations of professional women’s tennis, listening closely as always to the views of our players,” the group said in a statement. “Contesting this baseless legal case will divert time, attention and resources from our core mission to the detriment of our players and the sport as a whole.”

The Professional Tennis Players Association is not a players’ union; professional tennis players currently lack such a body, which is available to professional athletes in other major sports. Instead, the association, which was founded in 2019, represents players’ interests independently from the major governing bodies.

Tennis players are independent contractors, much like boxers and mixed martial artists — the latter of which won a $375 million settlement from the Ultimate Fighting Championship earlier this year after bringing their own antitrust lawsuit against the fight league.

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