Players v tennis tours: why the lawsuit and what next?

The Professional Tennis Players' Association has, "on behalf of the full subordinate population", begun ineligible action against tennis' governing bodies successful the US, the UK and the EU.

Among different things, the relation is unhappy with the prize wealth look designed by the tours, the "unsustainable" 11-month docket and "invasive searches of idiosyncratic devices".

The union, co-founded by Novak Djokovic 5 years ago, cites "anti-competitive practices and a blatant disregard for subordinate welfare" successful its lawsuit.

Both the ATP and the WTA Tour person defended their record, pointing to the prize wealth and information they connection players.

BBC Sport takes a look astatine however it came to this - and the prospects of a colony that could debar the benignant of divided witnessed successful play erstwhile the LIV Tour was created.

On 30 August 2020, astir 70 players - each wearing masks - posed for a socially distanced photograph connected the Arthur Ashe Stadium astatine the US Open.

It heralded the commencement of the PTPA and featured Novak Djokovic successful the foreground. He had been advocating for a subordinate national for immoderate clip and was announced arsenic a co-founder alongside the 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion Vasek Pospisil.

Frustrated by the operation of the ATP and WTA Tours - which look aft the interests of some players and tournaments - Djokovic wanted an organisation that worked exclusively for the players.

Increased prize wealth was a large extremity - particularly astatine the Grand Slams, wherever helium and others judge not capable of the gross generated ends up successful the pockets of the performers.

Pospisil and Nick Kyrgios are among 12 players listed arsenic plaintiffs alongside the PTPA successful the papers filed astatine the US District Court successful New York.

Djokovic was listed arsenic a plaintiff connected a draught mentation seen by BBC Sport, but his sanction did not look connected the authoritative papers.

"Vasek [Pospisil] and I were connected the telephone with Novak agleam and early," the PTPA's enforcement manager Ahmad Nassar explained connected Tuesday.

"So he's surely precise involved, precise up to velocity and he's inactive a sitting subordinate of our enforcement committee.

"To immoderate extent, we collectively made the determination that this is astir overmuch much than 1 subordinate and we are realistic successful knowing that determination is this inclination to default to the biggest name.

"And truthful we wanted to let different players to measurement up - this is astir each the players and not conscionable now, but besides successful the future."

The PTPA claims determination is collusion betwixt the tours and the tournaments, which suppresses contention betwixt tournaments and whitethorn artificially restrict prize money.

The relation besides wants to bring to an extremity the "unsustainable" docket and forestall "invasive searches of idiosyncratic devices and random middle-of-the-night cause tests" by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).

So, if successful, however does the PTPA envisage a player's satellite looking successful future?

"Prize wealth is increased, of course," Nassar says.

"But what we truly privation to absorption connected is you get 1 shot per swing. Grass court, 1 ball. Hard court, 1 ball. Clay court, 1 ball.

"None of this week-to-week variance that puts undue and unnecessary unit connected wrists and elbows and shoulders.

"A play docket that not lone is shorter and makes consciousness but allows for meaningful remainder and betterment for the players, and a amended dependable and practice that means we don't person to edifice to these utmost measures each 5 oregon 10 years."

The ATP says prize wealth has accrued by $70m (£54m) successful the past 5 years, and tin constituent to the $28.5m (£22m) of prize wealth disposable to emerging and little ranked players connected the Challenger Tour this year.

A profit-sharing exemplary was introduced successful 2022 and ensures players person 50% of the profits generated by the ATP's 9 Masters 1,000 tournaments.

The ATP's prize wealth look sets a minimum level for antithetic categories of tournaments. For a Masters 1,000 lawsuit with a 96-man draw, for example, that fig is $9.193m (£7.1m).

There is, successful theory, nary maximum, though if an proprietor wants to rise prize wealth by, say, 50% they would request to bash truthful evenly crossed the draw.

The WTA says $221m (£170.5m) of prize wealth was distributed past twelvemonth - $42m (£32m) much than successful 2023.

The ITIA's out-of-competition cause tests instrumentality spot betwixt 5am and 11pm. Players person to supply a one-hour clip model erstwhile they volition beryllium disposable for each time of the year.

They indispensable besides manus implicit their mobile phones to investigators, arsenic this is often a captious root of grounds erstwhile determination is suspicion of corruption.

All requests to analyse a player's telephone indispensable archetypal beryllium signed disconnected by the ITIA's investigations director.

Almost everyone successful tennis agrees the play should beryllium shorter, and this was astatine the centre of past year's discussions - which are yet to carnivore effect - astir the formation of a Premium Tour.

The thought came initially from Tennis Australia and its main enforcement Craig Tiley. Various models were discussed, with the extremity of creating a play which finished successful October and featured conscionable the 4 Grand Slams and 10 oregon 11 different events earlier the end-of-season circuit finals, the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.

The ATP and the WTA besides judge matches should not decorativeness truthful precocious and determination should beryllium greater consistency successful the tennis balls used.

The tours announced astatine the commencement of past twelvemonth that matches should not spell connected tribunal aft 11pm, though successful "exceptional circumstances, a tourney whitethorn petition waivers based connected section taste traditions, upwind conditions, oregon different extenuating situations".

The prime of which shot to use is present being made centrally by the ATP, alternatively than by idiosyncratic tournaments. Anomalies inactive exist, though this is partially explained by commercialized agreements which inactive person years to run.

The PTPA's Nassar says determination is nary volition to rip isolated the sport, successful the mode the LIV Tour has divided golf. He goes truthful acold arsenic to accidental settling retired of tribunal is 1 of the association's goals.

"The extremity is not to litigate this to the end," Nassar says.

"We are perfectly prepared to bash that. We've built a existent organisation, we've built a warfare thorax to beryllium capable to spot this through.

"But what we privation is to get everybody to the array to betterment the athletics the mode that galore of them person already spoken about."

Those talks volition not beryllium casual to organise. There is simply a batch of atrocious humor betwixt the PTPA and the tours. On Tuesday, the ATP accused the PTPA of consistently choosing "division and distraction through misinformation over progress".

"Happy to adhd defamation to our lawsuits," was Nassar's effect connected societal media.

The ATP volition person assurance successful its ineligible presumption aft winning an anti-trust lawsuit brought by the German Tennis Federation successful 2008 and truthful immoderate of the PTPA's demands whitethorn request to beryllium addressed by a court.

The US ineligible process could instrumentality years to scope the requested assemblage trial, though Margaret Garnett has already been appointed arsenic the judge.

The UK ailment has been filed to the Competition and Markets Authority, which is the country's main contention regulator. There are six antithetic plaintiffs for this case, including Corentin Moutet of France and Britain's Jay Clarke.

And the EU challenge, which besides lists antithetic plaintiffs, has been lodged with the European Commission, successful the anticipation that the EU's main enforcement assemblage volition find "severe infringements of its contention rules".

What is definite is that this volition beryllium a precise costly workout for each sides, which volition financially impact the tours and the players for arsenic agelong it lasts.