ATP and WTA Respond to Legal Actions Initiated by the PTPA

Adrien Guyot

le 18/03/2025 à 18h40

3 min to read

Djokovic Pospisil

This Tuesday, March 18, the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association), an organization founded in 2020 by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil to defend the interests of players on the tour, announced that it has initiated legal proceedings against various tennis governing bodies, particularly the ATP, WTA, ITF (International Tennis Federation), and ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency).

According to the reasons cited by the organization, the PTPA believes that the global system cannot align with a beneficial evolution of player development and well-being in the years to come.

The PTPA criticizes these four organizations for several issues, including an overcrowded calendar with tournaments taking place 11 months out of 12, frequent ball changes that lead to increasing wrist and shoulder injuries, and a ranking system that forces players to participate in ATP and WTA tournaments to remain relevant on the professional circuit, leaving no room for potential competition in the market.

The two governing bodies of the professional tour, the ATP (for the men's circuit) and the WTA (for the women's circuit), have both issued statements in recent hours to respond to the PTPA's decision, expressing regret over the situation.

The ATP, which initially emphasized its significant contribution to the growth of men's tennis since 1990, responded to the PTPA on its website.

"While the ATP has remained focused on implementing reforms that benefit players on multiple levels, the PTPA has consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation rather than progress.

Five years after its creation in 2020, the PTPA has struggled to establish a meaningful role in tennis, making its decision to pursue legal action at this stage unsurprising.

We firmly reject the premises of the PTPA's claims, believe the case has no merit, and will vigorously defend our position.

The ATP remains committed to working in the best interest of the game, which means striving for continued growth, financial stability, and the best possible future for our players, tournaments, and fans," the ATP website stated.

For its part, the WTA also expressed difficulty understanding the PTPA's position.

"The PTPA's action is both regrettable and misguided, and we will vigorously defend our position in due course. The WTA is a non-profit organization that exists to advance women's tennis on behalf of players, tournaments, and fans.

WTA players, as full members of tournaments, have an essential and influential voice in the governance of the WTA.

Every decision made takes into account the input of players through their elected representatives on the Board of Directors, and athletes receive substantial financial rewards and other benefits related to their participation in the WTA.

It is this governance model, supported by generations of athletes, that has enabled the WTA to achieve significant progress on behalf of our players. In recent years, we have notably committed to increasing player compensation by $400 million.

We have also charted a path toward equal pay at WTA premier events, secured new investments to fuel the long-term growth of the sport, and launched the first comprehensive maternity benefits for independent athletes in the history of women's sports.

The WTA is fully committed to continuing the development and evolution of the structure and operations of professional women's tennis, while carefully listening, as always, to the opinions of our players.

The challenge of this baseless legal case will divert time, attention, and resources from our primary mission, to the detriment of our players and the sport as a whole," the WTA assured on its website.