Pro tours file motion to dismiss antitrust lawsuit from Djokovic's PTPA 11e32

The professional tennis tours and two other defendants tly filed a motion in federal court in New York to dismiss the class-action antitrust lawsuit filed by the Professional Tennis Players' Association, a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic. 4mb5o

The PTPA sued the WTA women's tour, the ATP men's tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which oversees anti-doping and anti-corruption efforts in the sport, in March, calling them a "cartel."

The players are seeking a greater share of revenues and also raised various other complaints about how tennis is structured, including limits on prize money and a lack of competition from rival tours or tournaments.

The PTPA was founded by 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil with the aim of representing players who are independent contractors in a largely individual sport.

The group's executive director, Ahmad Nassar, repeatedly has said it is not a full-fledged union, does not have and does not collect dues — all of which are pointed to in one of Tuesday's motions as reasons why the PTPA does not have standing as a plaintiff in the case. That motion came from all four defendants.

A separate motion, filed only by the WTA, says that the male plaintiffs — 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka and Tennys Sandgren were among those named — should not be suing the women's tour, and also argues that the female plaintiffs — who include Sorana Cirstea and Varvara Gracheva — should be compelled to go to binding arbitration instead of pursuing the court case.

A spokesman for the PTPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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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