PTPA Boss Accused of Harassment, Sexist Conduct in New Lawsuit

The drama surrounding the Professional Tennis Players Association added a new chapter today, with the organization’s controversially ousted general counsel suing the current and past executive directors in a six-count lawsuit alleging breaches of fiduciary duty. 

Underscoring just how bizarre the civil war at the group is, the PTPA is listed as both a plaintiff and a defendant.

The 76-page case, filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, recaps some of what is already known about the civil war at the pro tennis players’ advocacy group. Wajid Mir, the former general counsel, argued he and others were waging a battle for transparency within the organization when he was fired—illegitimately he claims—by those who were allegedly trying to cover up their misdeeds. Much of this is ground covered in previous and ongoing litigation, but this new lawsuit has some fresh, highly charged claims about the former executive director, Ahmad Nassar, and his successor, Romain Rosenberg.

After complaints were leveled at Nassar that his dual roles running the PTPA and its commercial operator, Winners Alliance, conflicted, he stepped down in March in favor of Rosenberg. The move came shortly after cofounder Novak Djokovic stepped away from the PTPA.

Nassar left to focus solely on Winners Alliance, which is in part backed by billionaire investor Bill Ackman. In early June, Mir assembled six players who he said were approved as board members to hear a complaint that Rosenberg had harassed PTPA employee Anastasia Skavronskaia, who was formerly a marketing agent for Martina Hingis. 

“The Committee unanimously voted 6–0 to remove Rosenberg from executive authority effective immediately due to ‘misogynistic’ conduct, harassment and workplace retaliation,” Mir claims in the lawsuit. 

Rosenberg did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Rosenberg held an alternate committee meeting the next day with different players, sidestepping the previous day’s action, and his board members agreed to fire Mir. As Rosenberg is connected to Nassar and Winners Alliance, that side controlled the group’s purse strings and human resources, leaving him in charge.  

The players on the earlier committee sued in Washington, D.C., circuit court, but soon ran out of money; the judge also declined to enjoin the Rosenberg-led board. That judge also said each board was likely not viable because of eligibility restrictions.

The PTPA then sued Mir in Illinois federal court. Mir, who resides in Illinois, filed today a separate case known as a derivative claim, which is a lawsuit brought by an interested party.

In it, he claims Nassar is still effectively running the PTPA, which doesn’t appear to have many, if any, employees outside of Rosenberg. Skavronskaia was let go after the US Open ended in September. 

Nassar launched Winners Alliance in 2022 to be the commercial agent for the tennis players organization, which had recently hired Nassar away from the NFLPA. 

Winners Alliance made several other sports investments, including notorious track start-up Grand Slam Track, which recently exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For the PTPA, Winners Alliance signed a term sheet to pay the group $3 million a year for 20 years in return for the rights to market player group licensing rights.  Mir claims the term sheet was approved by the board but never fully signed, meaning Winners Alliance could end the partnership.

Outside of the internal legal battle, the PTPA is perhaps best known for its antitrust lawsuit against both tennis tours and three Grand Slams, a case that recently survived a motion to dismiss. Outside of that, the PTPA—founded in 2020—has made little impact in tennis. When Djokovic separated from the group in January, he cited transparency issues, and Mir had been trying to woo him back until events exploded in June.  

Mir alleges Nassar remains conflicted about whether his duties are to PTPA or Winners Alliance. And he claims a new conflict may have emerged with what he says in the lawsuit is Nassar’s creation of a firm for Muslim athletes called Companions Alliance. 

“It remains unclear what, if any, capital or operational resources Nassar and/or Winners Alliance have allocated to Companions Alliance,” the lawsuit reads. “These facts warrant examination of the source, structure, authorization, and organizational relationship of such expenditures and activities.”

In a statement to Front Office Sports, Nassar said, “This complaint was filed by a former PTPA staff member who was terminated in June and whom the PTPA and Winners Alliance are already suing in federal court. It recycles governance arguments the D.C. Superior Court did not accept, and he has no standing to bring claims on the PTPA’s behalf. I am about to begin a planned medical leave for major surgery related to a serious diagnosis, and our counsel will respond forcefully in court.”

Mir also charges the PTPA worked with, and employed Mohammed Tarik Koubaa, who led PTPA Global Services in Dubai. According to the lawsuit, Koubaa had “become the subject of serious workplace concerns. Rosenberg and Skavornskaia were made aware of concerns regarding comments by Koubaa toward players who identify as LGBTQ, with players informing Rosenberg in 2025 and 2026 that they would refuse to attend PTPA events if Koubaa were present.”

Skavornskaia also claimed Koubaa sexually harassed her at the Australian Open in 2025.

And Mir takes aim at Djokovic’s partner in forming the PTPA, the recently retired Vasek Pospisil and the named plaintiff in the antitrust case. “PTPA and Winners Alliance represented that payments to players associated with PTPA governance could involve activities characterized as outside PTPA business,” the suit says. “Pospisil was paid over $600,000 through 2025 and retains over $2 million of Winners Alliance equity.”