PTPA CEO defends highlighting Holger Rune in lawsuit – ‘Definitely not an intention to single him out’
PTPA CEO Ahmad Nassar has stated that ‘tennis believes that it can operate above the law’ after the organisation launched a class-action lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA.
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) launched legal action against the organisations on the eve of the Miami Open, seeking a jury trial over its criticisms of the ranking systems, schedule, and image rights – among other areas.
Nassar, who was named Executive Director in August 2022, made his feelings about the lawsuit clear – seeking to justify its existence.
“The overall system is draconian and illegal,” stated Nassar, in an exclusive interview with Ubitennis.
“It stifles innovation from outside and within in order to protect the status quo for the majority of the co-conspirators.
“Operating globally makes it more imperative to follow the law, not less. That’s also why we filed in the US, UK, and EU. The law applies to all global businesses, and global businesses have to follow more laws and regulations than domestic businesses.
“For some reason, tennis thinks it can operate above the law across the world. It cannot.
“We think one Tour with all the top players is the ideal, operating legally. The risk of not doing that is external forces coming into play. The focus is on having tournaments pay market rates. Not artificially fixed, and illegal, prize money.
“Tournaments are currently locked into bands, starting with Grand Slams, then 1000s, 500s, and 250s. But some 500s may want to pay more and should be able to. Unless it was part of an agreed-upon, independently and arms-length negotiated settlement with the players.”
Mentioned as plaintiffs in the legal filing were players Vasek Pospisil, Nicholas Kyrgios, Anastasia Rodionova, Nicole Melichar-Martinez, Saisai Zheng, Sorana Cîrstea, John-Patrick Smith, Noah Rubin, Aldila Sutjiadi, Varvara Gracheva, Tennys Sandgren, Reilly Opelka and the PTPA.
The class-action lawsuit also seemed to single out Holger Rune, after his involvement at the ‘Six Kings Slam’ exhibition in October 2024: “[Holger Rune was] the only player invited to the Saudi Arabian exhibition who had never won a Grand Slam, and the only player ranked outside the ATP top 10.”
This section in the lawsuit gained much attention across social media, but Nassar has sought to dismiss any criticism.
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“I didn’t see that coming and we should have,” the PTPA chief stated.
“Definitely not an intention to single him out! And certainly not in a negative fashion – in fact, that example shows a mini-free market system at play.
“The exhibition organizers decided who they wanted to play based on a multitude of factors, and got an incredible roster of players to compete.”
The ATP fired back with a strongly-worded rebuttal: “While ATP has remained focused on delivering reforms that benefit players at multiple levels, the PTPA has consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation over progress.
“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.”
