MIAMI GARDENS, Florida, USA (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz, the four-time Grand Slam champion, was not aware that he would be part of a class-action lawsuit in a US federal court against some of the organizations that govern tennis, and made it clear that he does not support the efforts of the players' association co-founded by Novak Djokovic.
“There are some things I agree with. There are other things I don’t agree with,” Alcaraz said about the antitrust case when asked about it at a press conference prior to the Miami Open, where he is the second seed. “But the main thing here is that I’m not supporting that. So that’s all.”
What is the demand of Djokovic’s players' association about?
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), which claimed to have the support of more than 250 male and female tennis players, filed a lawsuit in New York on Tuesday and also took actions in Brussels and London, referring to the organizations in charge of the sport as a “cartel”: the women’s (WTA) and men’s (ATP) tours, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that oversees the Grand Slams, and the agency overseeing anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts (ITIA).
“Frankly, it was surprising to me, because no one told me anything about it,” Alcaraz commented. “I found out on social media.”
Alcaraz, like some other players, was mentioned in the 150-page document, which also surprised the 21-year-old Spaniard.
On page 71, in a section about the demanding schedule in professional tennis, winners of Slams are mentioned, such as Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, and Iga Swiatek, including this passage: “Carlos Alcaraz criticized the Tour calendar, saying that the Governing Body’s Demands ‘are going to kill (the players) somehow’”.
That came from something Alcaraz said after a match he played in the Laver Cup last September, according to a transcription of his press conference there.
“Many players want to play more - or even more. Many players feel that, OK, it’s a good schedule. And many players say it’s really tight and there are many tournaments throughout the year,” he said. “I’m the type of player who thinks there are many tournaments during the year, mandatory tournaments, and probably in the coming years, there will be even more tournaments, more mandatory tournaments. So, I mean, they are probably going to kill us in some way.”
The transcription indicates that he/she was smiling at the end of that passage.
The PTPA lawsuit presents a series of criticisms against the governing bodies of tennis, such as limiting the prize money that each tournament can offer, preventing competition from rival circuits or events, a ranking system that restricts which events athletes can enter, and an “authoritarian approach” by the International Tennis Integrity Agency that the lawsuit described as “arbitrary and selective.”