{"id":388498,"date":"2026-01-05T03:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/388498\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T03:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:48:06","slug":"novak-djokovic-cuts-ties-with-the-professional-tennis-players-association-group-he-co-founded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/388498\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic cuts ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association, group he co-founded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic is cutting ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association<\/a>, a group he co-founded that sued the sport\u2019s governing bodies last year, writing on social media Sunday that \u201cmy values and approach are no longer aligned with the current direction of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 24-time Grand Slam champion announced at the 2020 U.S. Open that he and now-retired Canadian player Vasek Pospisil were launching the PTPA. They said they were aiming to offer representation for players who are independent contractors in a largely individual sport.<\/p>\n

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, although that sort of thing hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n

Djokovic said Sunday on X that he had \u201congoing concerns regarding transparency, governance, and the way my voice and image have been represented.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PTPA filed a class-action lawsuit<\/a> in March against the women\u2019s and men\u2019s tours, the International Tennis Federation and the sport\u2019s integrity agency, accusing the organizations of \u201csystemic abuse, anti-competitive practices, and a blatant disregard for player welfare.\u201d The four Grand Slam tournaments were later added as defendants. <\/p>\n

Djokovic was not listed as a plaintiff when the suit was filed; Pospisil and other players were.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, Djokovic said in March, \u201cI want other players to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says players should gain access to more earnings, arguing that the governing bodies that oversee the four Grand Slam tournaments \u2014 Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open and the Australian Open \u2014 and other professional events \u201ccap the prize money tournaments award and limit players\u2019 ability to earn money off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WTA Tour and ATP Tour issued separate statements in March<\/a> saying they would \u201cvigorously\u201d defend themselves.<\/p>\n

The WTA said it has \u201ccommitted to a $400 million increase in player compensation\u201d in recent years and labeled the PTPA action a \u201cbaseless legal case\u201d that is \u201cregrettable and misguided.\u201d The ATP touted a \u201cmajor increase in player compensation\u201d that created a jump of \u201c$70 million in the past five years,\u201d and called the PTPA\u2019s case \u201centirely without merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the ITF said at the time that it \u201cwill take the appropriate time to consider our response.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Djokovic said Sunday he \u201cwill continue to focus on my tennis, my family, and contributing to the sport in ways that reflect my principles and integrity. I wish the players and those involved the best as they move forward, but for me, this chapter is now closed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic is cutting ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association, a group he co-founded that sued the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-388498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}