Nick Kyrgios breaks silence on PTPA’s radical action against ATP and WTA’s ‘abusive practices’

Novak Djokovic-backed PTPA filed a lawsuit against ATP, WTA, ITF, and the ITIA in their aim to improve the tennis system.

Nick Kyrgios breaks silence on PTPA’s radical action against ATP and WTA’s ‘abusive practices’

Nick Kyrgios (Image via X/Swish Tennis)

Nick Kyrgios was part of 12 current and former players who filed the lawsuit along with the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), the tennis organization backed by Novak Djokovic. Kyrgios called the action taken by the PTPA as “special” as he believes that this could lead to changes in the tennis system.

The PTPA sued the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). They filed a 163-page lawsuit at the United States District Court in New York on Tuesday (March 18) to fight against the “corrupt, illegal, and abusive system“.

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I don’t think players ultimately have been very happy with what they earn on the tour comparatively to other sports and that’s definitely one of the main reasons.

Nick Kyrgios told Sky Sports

Apart from Kyrgios, other plaintiffs include Vasek Pospisil, Reilly Opelka, Anastasia Rodionova, Nicole Melichar-Martinez, Saisai Zheng, Sorana Cirstea, Varvara Gracheva, John-Patrick Smith, Tennys Sandgren, Noah Rubin, and Aldila Sutjiadi. Kyrgios said “ATP just had so much power“, accusing them them of not paying heed to players’ complaints.

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We’re the only sport in the world that doesn’t have a players’ association. The PTPA’s first goal was to get the players to be heard. I feel like we don’t get heard. For instance, we’re using different balls pretty much every week, things that absolutely shouldn’t be happening in a high, professional sport.

Nick Kyrgios added

Vasek Pospisil says the lawsuit is about basic human dignity

Vasek Pospisil, along with Novak Djokovic founded the PTPA in 2020. They failed to solve the various problems players were facing while on the tour and this culminated in them taking legal action. The Canadian feels no other sports treat in the way the governing tennis bodies are treating their players, calling it “absurd“.

Vasek Pospisil
Vasek Pospisil (Image via X/@Vasek Pospisil)

I’m one of the more fortunate players and I’ve still had to sleep in my car when traveling to matches early on in my career. Imagine an NFL player being told that he had to sleep in his car at an away game.

Vasek Pospisil said in a statement (via PTPA)

The PTPA alleged that the governing bodies don’t take care of players’ well-being, have manipulated the prize money structures, and force players’ participation for the sake of ranking. They alleged that the governing bodies’ regulations have stopped tournaments from offering more prize money. They also accused the ITIA of violating privacy.

The players union also criticized the ATP and WTA for ignoring players’ health by making them compete in extreme heat and late at night. The issue of players being on the tour for 11 months was also raised, as well as the constant ball changes as a result of which players suffer serious injuries. They also aim to address players’ complaints of not receiving a high percentage of the revenue generated by the four Grand Slams.

ATP and WTA issued strong statements after PTPA sued them

The ATP and WTA vowed to defend themselves. The former called PTPA’s action “entirely without merits”, accusing them of distracting all through “misinformation over progress”.

Novak Djokovic (4)
Novak Djokovic (Image via X/We Are Tennis)

They stated that the legal action taken by the PTPA was “unsurprising” because, since its inception in 2020, it couldn’t “establish a meaningful role in tennis“. The WTA, on the other hand, called the lawsuit “baseless” and wrote how they have always made decisions after receiving players’ inputs to strive for improvements and ensure players’ well being.

Novak Djokovic is yet to comment on it. He is in Miami for the second ATP Masters 1000 of the season and will kick start his campaign against Rinky Hijikata or Hamad Medjedovic in the round of 64.