The professional tennis tours and two other defendants jointly filed a motion in federal court in New York to dismiss the class-action antitrust lawsuit brought by the Professional Tennis Players' Association, a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic.
''The PTPA is not a proper plaintiff in this lawsuit. The PTPA lacks associational standing and antitrust standing, and the PTPA's presence in this lawsuit is not only redundant, but also an improper attempt to circumvent class-action requirements,'' Tuesday's filing concludes. "The PTPA should be dismissed as a plaintiff."
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 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 started several years ago 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 repeatedly has made clear it is not a full-fledged union, does not have members and does not collect dues — all of which are pointed to in the motion as reasons why the PTPA should not be allowed to be a plaintiff in the case.
''The PTPA is improperly conflating its ‘membership' with the population of top players on whose behalf the PTPA purportedly advocates, some of whom have already publicly disagreed with the PTPA's advocacy,'' the filing reads. ''Because the PTPA has failed to plead that these players are actually its members, and in the absence of an alleged injury to any actual PTPA member, the PTPA has no standing.''
That motion came from all four defendants.
