The Professional Tennis Players Association told a judge it’s nearing a settlement with Tennis Australia as part of its lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, and the organizers of all four Grand Slams.
The group co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2019 alleges that the tours and majors have violated antitrust law, suppressed wages, and disregarded player health. The PTPA and a group of players filed the initial suit against the tours in March and added the Slams as defendants in June. (The International Tennis Federation and International Tennis Integrity Agency have been dropped from the suit.)
The lawsuit seeks to improve conditions in tennis, including players paying for their own travel and not having control over the use of their name, image, and likeness. The suit claims the tours conspire to limit prize money, set a demanding 11-month schedule, and force players to sign illegal waivers. Players including Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, Romania’s Sorana Cîrstea, and Reilly Opelka of the U.S have signed on, though Djokovic has not added his name to the case, which was filed in Brussels, London, and New York City.
“[The ATP and WTA Tours] and the Grand Slam Co-Conspirators have agreed to stratify the prize awards such that no Tournament Co-Conspirator will pay players more money than their Grand Slam Co-Conspirator counterparts,” reads the lawsuit, which describes the sport’s organizers as a “cartel.” The ATP said “We strongly reject the premise” of the lawsuit’s claims while the WTA has called the litigation “both regrettable and misguided.” The ATP requested to move the suit to Delaware, while the WTA requested to move it into arbitration.
An attorney for the tennis players, Andrew Tulumello, filed a letter in the Southern District of New York on Wednesday requesting a stay in proceedings and deadlines against Tennis Australia. “Plaintiffs and Tennis Australia are engaged in substantive and productive bi-lateral settlement discussions and believe that a settlement as to Plaintiffs’ claims against Tennis Australia is likely in the near future,” Tulumello wrote.
Tennis Australia will host its annual Australian Open in January. “If the New York court approves a settlement between the parties, Tennis Australia will exit the litigation,” the organizer said in a statement.
Opelka testified that a member of the ATP Players Council threatened him to take his name off the lawsuit, lest he would lose his pension and millions of dollars in legal fees.
