Players' union seeks court order against ATP Tour

The Skilled Tennis Gamers’ Affiliation (PTPA) is in search of a court docket order to stop the ATP Tour participating in “improper, coercive or threatening communications” with gamers.

The affiliation alleges the ATP has tried to strain gamers into signing pre-prepared statements saying that they had no prior data of the authorized motion launched this week by the PTPA.

The union, which was co-founded by 24-time main winner Novak Djokovic, cited “anti-competitive practices and a blatant disregard for participant welfare” in lawsuits filed on Tuesday.

Djokovic will not be one of many gamers listed as a plaintiff within the official court docket paperwork, however mentioned publicly on the Miami Open on Thursday that there are components of the lawsuit with which he agrees, and a few with which he doesn’t.

The Serb went on to say: “I’ve seen some adjustments, however there are some elementary adjustments which can be nonetheless but to be made and I actually hope that each one the governing our bodies, together with PTPA, will come collectively and remedy these points.”

The PTPA, “on behalf of your complete participant inhabitants”, is taking motion towards the lads’s ATP Tour, the ladies’s WTA Tour, the Worldwide Tennis Federation and the Worldwide Tennis Integrity Company within the US, the UK and the European Union.

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios is probably the most high-profile participant to be named as a plaintiff alongside the PTPA.

In papers filed late on Friday to the US District Court docket in New York, legal professionals for the PTPA requested Choose Margaret Garnett to concern an order which prevents all 4 defendants from speaking with gamers about their involvement within the course of.

The movement accuses the ATP of threatening to scale back prize cash and pension contributions to offset authorized charges which it would accrue from combating the case. It argues this constitutes “flagrant interference” with the jurisdiction of the court docket.