Novak Djokovic wanted other players to step up by putting their names on tennis antitrust lawsuit

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Novak Djokovic doesn’t want the antitrust lawsuit filed by the players’ association he co-founded to create a rift in tennis, but he also said Thursday that the athletes’ share of revenues and their influence both need to increase.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion, speaking at a pre-tournament news conference at the Miami Open, explained that he was not listed among the plaintiffs on the case filed Tuesday in federal court in New York — along with actions in Brussels and London — “because I want other players to step up.”

The suit by the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) against the women’s and men’s tours, the International Tennis Federation and the sport’s integrity agency said the organizations hold “complete control over the players’ pay and working conditions,” calling them a “cartel.”

“I’ve never been a fan and supporter of division in our sport, but I’ve always fought for better representation and influence of and positioning of the players globally in our sport, which I think is still not where I think it should be,” Djokovic said, “and where most of the players think it should be, not just in terms of prize money, but in terms of many other points that have been also stated in that document.”

The PTPA said it had spoken with more than 250 players — women and men — and gotten backing for the class-action suit. Players whose names are attached to the U.S. lawsuit include 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios, Sorana Cirstea, Varvara Gracheva, Reilly Opelka, Tennys Sandgren and Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

But four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz said Wednesday at the Miami Open that he wasn’t a fan — in part because he wasn’t aware he’d be quoted in the filing, hadn’t been told it was happening and didn’t agree with everything stated by the attorneys.

Djokovic echoed that last sentiment.

“I really hope that all the governing bodies, including PTPA, will come together and solve these issues,” he said. “This is a classic lawsuit, so lawyers to lawyers, type of situation. So to be quite frank with you, there are things that I agree with in the lawsuit, and then there are also things that I don’t agree with. And I found that maybe some wording was quite strong in there, but I guess the legal team knows what they are doing and what kind of terminology they’re supposed to use in order to get the right effect.”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis