MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz wasn’t aware that a class action lawsuit would be filed in US federal court against a group that runs tennis and does not support the efforts of the Players Association, co-founded by Novak Djokovic.
“There are a few things I agree with. There are a few things I disagree with,” Alcaraz said when asked at a press conference before the Miami Open tournament and was asked at the previous press conference at the Miami Open, where he was second seeded. “But the main thing here is that I don’t support it. That’s all.”
The Professional Tennis Players Association, with the support of more than 250 athletes, was sued in New York on Tuesday, calling the organizations responsible for the sport in Brussels and London – Women (WTA) and Men (ATP) Tour, International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the Agency that Oversees Coping and Boring Efforts of Managers (ITF).
“To be honest, it was amazing to me, because no one ever told me about it,” Alcaraz said. “So I just saw it on social media.”
He, like several other players, was quoted in more than 150 pages of submissions. This is something else that caught the 21-year-old Spaniard wearing it.
On page 71, the section on nasty professional tennis scheduling cites the winners of major titles, including this passage, Alkaraz, Coco Gough and Iga Swietek.
That came from what Alcaraz said after a match he played at the Rubber Cup event last September, according to his press conference transcript.
“A lot of players want to play more – or more. Many players feel that it’s a good calendar, and many players (for example) say it’s really tight and it’s a lot of tournaments all year round,” he said. “I have a lot of tournaments in a year, there are mandatory tournaments, and maybe more tournaments, more mandatory tournaments in the coming years.
The transcript shows him smiling at the end of the passage.
PTPA is a ranking system that levelles a series of criticism of tennis governing bodies, such as limiting the prize money each tournament can offer, preventing competition from rival tours and events, and limiting the “heavy approach” of the International Tennis Integrated Organization that has selected lawsuits as “Yomibit.”