The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA), co-founded by world number one Novak Djokovic, is moving. They’ve filed several lawsuits against the major tours and ruling organizations of the sport. Filed globally, these legal actions aim to address ongoing issues within tennis, highlighting concerns that parallel those faced half a century ago.
The PTPA’s lawsuits have drawn a mix of praise and condemnation. The ATP and WTA vehemently deny the allegations and have pledged to fight the claims vigorously. As tennis legend Stan Smith explains in the video below, he is disappointed in where the sport has gone. He characterizes that development as “unfortunate.” He lamented that most of today’s struggles mirror the wranglings players fought on the field five decades ago. This link demonstrates that many issues are cumulative over the years.
In 1968, tennis history had a big breakthrough. Stars took the daring leap from the amateur scene to the pro ranks. This critical moment ignited years – and, for some marathoners, decades – of contentious battles over prize money distribution and event scheduling. Smith maintains these problems do not haunt the sport today.
“It’s always been prize money, distribution, allocation. And it’s funny, because it’s a lot of the same issues we had back 50 years ago.” – Stan Smith
Smith expressed worry about the collective cohesion of players with all of these lawsuits being filed recently. He said the fact that many of the sport’s biggest stars have opted out from participating in the lawsuits compounds his concerns. Djokovic is no stranger to strong-arming an agenda through tennis’ political structure. This time, he chose not to support the lawsuit explicitly, calling on other players to stand up and speak out first.
“I want other players to step up.” – Novak Djokovic
Smith was dubious about how unifying the lawsuit really was considering the fact that so many key players had stayed out. He said it was clear not all players supported the PTPA’s efforts. Such a discrepancy begs the question of whether lawsuits are really in the spirit of representing the interests of the broader player base.
“So it certainly doesn’t represent all the players. At Wimbledon, we had almost all the top players boycotting.” – Stan Smith
Smith suggested that some of the younger players, such as Carlos Alcaraz, might not have been as aware of the lawsuit as they should have been. That lack of awareness is unhelpful for producing any possible unity among the parties over their shared complaints.
“I think a lot of this could be things that could be worked through, and some of the players like Carlos Alcaraz didn’t know about it.” – Stan Smith
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has been for decades the most ruthless governing body in sports. It has become the main focus of debate over who wields power in the sport. Smith pointed out that most of these financial resources are generated from these grand slam events overseen by the ITF. That means these groups have a huge impact on what players are paid and how tournaments are structured.
“Obviously the ITF, the grand slam events are the ones that have the most money,” – Stan Smith
As tennis heads into its major tournaments—the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open—the implications of these lawsuits loom large. Smith noted that repeated arguments over scheduling and prize money are still among the major sticking points for players.
“It was a bond of the ATP at that particular moment. So I think it’s unfortunate that they aren’t able to work through these issues that are out there and a lot of it revolves around schedule. It’s always been schedule. It’s always been prize money.” – Stan Smith
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