MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Calling the groups in charge of professional tennis “a cartel,” the players' association co-founded by Novak Djokovic filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women's and men's tours, the International Tennis Federation and the sport's integrity agency on Tuesday in federal court in New York.
The suit by the Professional Tennis Players' Association says the organizations that run the sport hold “complete control over the players’ pay and working conditions” and their setup constitutes “textbook violations of state and federal law” that “immunize professional tennis from ordinary market forces and deny professional tennis players and other industry participants their right to fair competition.”
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and wants players to gain access to more earnings, arguing that the governing bodies that oversee the four Grand Slam tournaments — Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open and the Australian Open — and other professional events “cap the prize money tournaments award and limit players’ ability to earn money off the court.”
On top of the case in U.S. District Court, the PTPA made filings with the European Commission in Brussels and the Competition Markets Authority in London.
“There is a complete and utter lack of competition that exists in professional tennis, and we believe by filing these actions, we will ultimately inject the kind of competition that will be fair to the players, to the fans and actually to the people (who) operate the system,” said Jim Quinn, a lawyer working with the PTPA.
“It's going to require a restructuring,” Quinn said.
The WTA Tour and ATP Tour issued separate statements Tuesday saying they would “vigorously” defend themselves.
The WTA said it has “committed to a $400 million increase in player compensation” in recent years and labeled the PTPA action a “baseless legal case” that is “regrettable and misguided.” The ATP touted a “major increase in player compensation” that created a jump of “$70 million in the past five years,” and called the PTPA's case “entirely without merit.”
“The PTPA has consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation over progress,” the ATP's statement said. “Five years on from its inception in 2020, the PTPA has struggled to establish a meaningful role in tennis, making its decision to pursue legal action at this juncture unsurprising.”
The International Tennis Integrity Agency — which investigates and adjudicates doping and corruption — said it noted the PTPA's action but did not offer any direct reaction to the case itself.
A spokesman said the ITF “will take the appropriate time to consider our response.”
The PTPA was founded by 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in August 2020, aiming to offer representation for players who are independent contractors in a largely individual sport. One of the goals made clear along the way was to become a sort of full-fledged union that negotiates collective bargaining agreements like those that exist in team sports.
“Beyond just the economics, we see ... player welfare is completely disregarded in everything, from the tour schedule to anti-competitive practices, to abusing our rights around name, image, likeness," Pospisil said.
He is one of the players listed as a plaintiff; Djokovic is not. 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.
PTPA executive director Ahmad Nassar said Djokovic is “certainly very involved, very up to speed. He is still a sitting member of our executive committee at the PTPA. ... This is about much more than one player.”
The PTPA said it met with more than 250 players — women and men, and a majority of the top 20 in the WTA and ATP rankings — before going to court.
“We’ve seen the Grand Slams try to change some things unsuccessfully. We’ve seen the tours themselves try to change things unsuccessfully. We’ve seen outside money try to come in and change things unsuccessfully. And so we really think this is the only path forward, and we don’t do this lightly, whatsoever," Nassar said. "But we think it was necessary, because the players really do demand to be heard, to have their issues taken seriously, to address these structural issues that plague tennis and really choke it as an international sport, and to create a system that brings balance and equality and fairness to really the entire business of tennis.”
FILE - Canada's Vasek Pospisil and Serbia's Novak Djokovic talk tactics during their double match against during their Round of 32 match at the Adelaide International Tennis tournament in Adelaide, Australia, Jan. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Kelly Barnes, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said Wednesday it launched a “limited ground operation” in northern Gaza to retake part of a corridor that bisects the territory, and the country's defense minister warned that the army plans to step up the attacks that shattered a two-month ceasefire "with an intensity that you have not seen.”
The military said it had retaken part of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern Gaza from the south and from where it had withdrawn as part of the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Palestinians in Gaza that the army would again order evacuations from combat zones soon, and that its attacks against Hamas would become more fierce if dozens of hostages held for more than 17 months weren’t freed.
As Israel continued its airstrikes on Gaza Wednesday, the United Nations said an international United Nations staffer was killed and five others were wounded in a strike Wednesday on a U.N. guesthouse in Gaza.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the U.N. Office for Project Services, declined to say who carried out the strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah but said the explosive ordnance was “dropped or fired” and the blast was not accidental or related to demining activity.
He did not provide the nationalities of those killed and wounded. The U.N. body, known as UNOPS, carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world.
The Israeli military, which has carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes throughout Gaza since early Tuesday, denied earlier reports that it had targeted the U.N. compound.
But Moreira da Silva said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday and struck it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the staffer was killed. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that it was aware of the facility's location.
“Israel knew this was a U.N. premise, that people were living, staying and working there," he said.
After the strike Wednesday, the wounded were rushed to Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in central city of Deir al-Balah. One man was carried inside on a blanket held up by medical workers. Another lay on a hospital bed, his knee bandaged. A blue protective vest emblazoned with “UN” rested on a nearby bed.
There have been no reports of rocket fire or other Palestinian militant attacks since Israel unleashed the airstrikes overnight and into Tuesday, ending a ceasefire with Hamas that took hold in January. The Israeli bombardment continued into Wednesday, though at a lower intensity.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the strikes early Tuesday. It said another 678 people have been wounded.
The military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza's Health Ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The military said in a statement that as part of the new offensive, it struck dozens of militants and militant sites on Wednesday, including the command center of a Hamas battalion.
The war in Gaza, which was paused in January by an internationally-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, has been among the deadliest conflicts ever for humanitarian workers, according to the U.N.
The resumption of fighting launched by Israel early Tuesday risks plunging the region back into all-out war. It came weeks after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages for prisoners and were set to negotiate an extension to the truce that was meant to bring about an eventual end to the war.
But those negotiations never got off the ground. Hamas has demanded that Israel stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire deal, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Israel, which has vowed to defeat Hamas, has put forward a new proposal that would extend the truce and free more hostages held by Hamas, without a commitment to end the war.
Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is brought into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following what the U.N. described as a strike in which an explosive ordnance was "dropped or fired" in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians evacuate an injured man after his house was hit by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians evacuate an injured man after his house was hit by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians evacuate an injured man after his house was hit by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is brought into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following what the U.N. described as a strike in which an explosive ordnance was "dropped or fired" in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT.-Palestinians evacuate an injured man after his house was hit by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians evacuate an injured man after his house was hit by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians evacuate an injured man after his house was hit by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israelis march on a highway toward Jerusalem to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The body of United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The body of United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is treated at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is taken into the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an explosion in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Wednesday March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
