Tennis Player Testifies ATP Threatened Him For Supporting Lawsuit

Last month, a group of tennis players sued the ATP and WTA in New York, London, and Brussels, accusing the tennis “cartel” of suppressing player wages, disregarding player health, and a wide range of antitrust violations.

That group, the Professional Tennis Players Association, recently alleged that the ATP is coercing players to rebuke the lawsuit. The PTPA’s motion to gag the ATP from discussing the lawsuit with players was heard over an explosive three hours in a lower Manhattan federal courtroom Friday.

Veteran tennis player Reilly Opelka testified that ATP Tour chairman Andrea Gaudenzi sent an unnamed player to warn him that if he didn’t take his name off the lawsuit, Opelka would lose his pension and be bogged down with millions of dollars in legal fees. 

Opelka called into the courtroom from Barcelona, where he’s set to play in a tournament next week.

The ATP denies his allegation.  Board member Luben Pampoulov said Opelka’s account was untrue, and the ATP participated in Friday’s hearing while objecting that the story is “hearsay.” Judge Margaret Garnett overruled the tour’s lawyers.

The PTPA filed the case on March 18, and the next day Pampoulov testified he asked players at the Miami Open to sign a statement disavowing the lawsuit; he says the ATP stopped circulating it when the gag motion was filed. The only player who Pampoulov named who signed it is Ben Shelton.

Opelka testified that he was on an exercise bike March 18 in the Miami Open locker room when a member of the Players Council got on to the one next to him. Nine players sit on the council; Opelka said he would not name the player because he feared ATP retribution. According to Opelka, the unnamed player aid Gaudenzi had instructed him at a Players Council meeting that day to warn Opelka he risked losing his pension and being burdened with legal fees. 

Opelka testified he had two other conversations with this player.

Pampoulov testified he was in the meeting room and denied Gaudenzi made the remarks. In fact, Gaudenzi ceded the stage and let ATP staff talk about the lawsuit, the board member said.

The ATP emphasized that few players have publicly supported the lawsuit, with tour lawyer Brad Ruskin calling it a “sophisticated PR campaign.” Vasek Pospisil, one of 12 tennis players who put their name on the suit, said that he spoke with 150 players who largely supported the litigation; he had earlier said that 300 players supported the suit. 

Pospisil, who appeared in the courtroom, said players feared retribution from the powerful tour.

Notably, PTPA co-founder Novak Djokovic did not put his name on the lawsuit, and in Miami last month said there were parts of it he did not support.  Asked about this, Pospisil admitted Djokovic’s words were confusing. “I was surprised,” he said. “I don’t know why he said that…it was not in line with our previous conversations.”

ATP lawyers also asked Pospisil about Carlos Alcaraz saying he had never been approached by the PTPA and knew nothing about the lawsuit until it was filed. Pospisil expressed regret, saying he passed over Alcaraz because of his youth. “I didn’t want to distract him,” Pospisil said. Shortly after Alcaraz’s comments, Pospisil texted him, and the Spaniard responded. “He replied enthusiastically and said he would love to know more about it,” Pospisil said.

The ATP’s bylaws require members who sue the tour and lose to pay its legal fees.  According to locker room talk, the ATP is prepared to spend $50 million to $100 million defending the case, Pospisil said. The ATP’s Pampoulov did not deny the bylaw, but was not asked about the number the PTPA’s side cited several times Friday. 

There is clearly no love lost between the ATP and PTPA. ATP counsel Ruskin said the PTPA, which formed in 2020, had “self-anointed” itself representative of the players when in fact the players were in an equal partnership with tournaments in the ATP. The PTPA “undermines” the ATP, Ruskin said. 

Another ATP lawyer brought up Pospisil’s 2021 on-court rant against Gaudenzi at the Miami Open. PTPA counsel Jim Quinn told Front Office Sports that the ATP has filed exhibits that includes dozens of images of PTPA members smashing rackets and the like.

The case is still in its very early stages, with initial reply from the defendants not due until May 20. Garnett, the judge, gave both sides a week to file new briefs on the motion to gag the ATP. She said she would rule shortly after.