Andy Roddick explains why he ‘agrees’ with parts of Novak Djokovic-backed PTPA’s legal action

World No.5 Novak Djokovic founded the PTPA along with Vasek Pospisil but wasn't a part of the controversial lawsuit.

Andy Roddick explains why he ‘agrees’ with parts of Novak Djokovic-backed PTPA’s legal action

Andy Roddick (Image via X/We Love Tennis)

Andy Roddick gave his verdict on the Professional Tennis Players Association’s (PTPA) class-action lawsuit against ATP, WTA, ITF, and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The PTPA, founded by Novak Djokovic along with Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, raised many issues that they believe tennis players are struggling with.

One of them was the “unsustainable” schedule. The ATP tournaments are spread across 11 months and the top players have not shied away from admitting that they are struggling to produce consistent performance because of not having enough time to rest and recover. The players have also lamented the lack of time between tournaments.

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Another objection the PTPA raised was the distribution of the revenue to the players. They have also accused the governing bodies of restricting tournaments to award more prize money to the players.

Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka were among those who agreed with PTPA’s demand that a higher percentage of the revenue should be given to the players as prize money. Roddick too is of the same opinion.

We all want more prize money for players. But we have to deliver that in a responsible way. The fact that the Slams give 15 percent of total revenue to players is laughable.

Andy Roddick said on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast

Last year, several players struggled with the short timeframes between big tournaments like Wimbledon, the Paris Olympics, and the US Open, not to forget that these events were held on grass, clay, and hard courts respectively. This further made it difficult for the players to quickly adapt to the surface. Roddick accused the top tennis bodies of ignoring the players’ complaints about the cramped schedule and said they somehow have to fix it.

Most of tennis earth can easily agree that the schedule can’t be 11 months. We can’t have five days between sanction events for 2024 and 2025 – between Next Gen finals and United Cup starts. Let’s just agree on the most sane parts of what they said, which is pointing out problems which people largely know exist.

Andy Roddick added

Andy Roddick criticizes Novak Djokovic-backed PTPA lawsuit for not involving top players

The PTPA claimed in their lawsuit that many top 250 players were consulted before they took legal action. When the top players were asked about it, they denied having any idea of it.

Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick (Image via X/The Athletic)

Carlos Alcaraz straightaway revealed that no one had told him anything about the lawsuit and that he didn’t support it at all. Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and Iga Swiatek too were of the same opinion. The most surprising answer came from Novak Djokovic.

The Serb wasn’t part of the 12 current and former players listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. He didn’t agree with some parts and also felt that some wordings were quite strong. This is why Andy Roddick criticized the players union’s lawsuit.

Maybe I am wrong but you didn’t speak to the most obvious mouthpieces but yet you are telling me you covered all your bases. You have done it in a bad way then.

Andy Roddick said on Served with Andy Roddick podcast

Ahmad Nassar claims every player is trapped in the current system

PTPA Executive Director Ahmad Nassar thinks the lawsuit will get “everyone unstuck” as he accused the tennis bodies of not taking care of players’ well-being. He compared the tennis players’ earnings to those of what LeBron James and Lionel Messi are earning from their respective sports.

Ahmad Nassar 
Ahmad Nassar (Image via PTPA website)

And then at the lower end, how could a sport that is played by millions of people globally only have 100 or so players being net positive (in income) every year?

Ahmad Nassar told HT

The governing tennis bodies have responded to the lawsuit, strongly rejecting PTPA’s claims. They claimed the case was entirely without merit and vowed to defend themselves.