PTPA confirm early-stage settlement with TA in vague statement
- Christian Montegan
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
In the midst of a legal battle between tennis' main governing bodies, the Professional Tennis Players' Association (PTPA) have announced an early-stage settlement agreement with Tennis Australia (TA), without delving into specifics.
In November, The First Serve explained Tennis Australia's push to break away from the other three Grand Slams in an effort to settle a lawsuit filed by the PTPA against multiple governing bodies, including the ATP and WTA, for matters such as player welfare and prize money.
Then, at the end of 2025, TA issued a public statement to confirm that an agreement had been reached to settle a lawsuit with the PTPA.
"Tennis Australia today confirmed it has reached agreement to settle the class action lawsuit filed in New York District Court earlier this year, without admitting any liability or wrongdoing. The settlement remains subject to final documentation and court approval processes.
"The plaintiffs' lawyers have applied to the court to continue the stay of proceedings against Tennis Australia while settlement documentation is completed.
"Early resolution allows Tennis Australia to focus entirely on delivering an outstanding Australian summer of tennis and continuing to invest in the growth of our sport."
Nearly four weeks later, the PTPA provided an update on the settlement arrangement.
"The Professional Tennis Players Association and Player Plaintiffs have secured an early-stage settlement with Tennis Australia. The agreement provides invaluable consultation on the future of the tennis industry and litigation cooperation, strengthening our case. The settlement demonstrates the merits of our claims and signals that the remaining Defendants may find it in their interest to engage promptly with reform," the statement read.
"Our lawsuit challenges a broken system artificially suppressing player compensation, dictating punishing schedules, enforcing restrictive participation requirements, and limiting sponsorship opportunities. This systematic suppression stifles growth, innovation, and fairness across tennis.
"Players at every level recognise the current system fails them. They also recognise reform benefits everyone: players, tournaments, sponsors, fans, and the sport itself.
"Our legal case is backed by comprehensive funding sufficient to last through trial. We have the resources, leadership, strategy, and resolve to prove professional tennis has engaged in unlawful restraints of trade, violating antitrust law.
"History shows transformative change in professional sports comes through sustained pressure on anticompetitive structures. The window for reform is now. The choice is stark: shape the future or defend a hopelessly problematic and entangled cartel.
"The PTPA calls on all stakeholders to support comprehensive reform. This is a generational opportunity to reshape professional tennis for the better."
Interestingly, the statement was released just half an hour before Novak Djokovic's Australian Open pre-tournament press conference.
Earlier this month, the 38-year-old announced his decision to step away from the PTPA, having co-founded the organisation alongside former player Vasek Pospisil in 2020.
From day one, the mission was clear. We tried to have an association that would give a stronger player voice, and that will hopefully be able to contribute to the expansion of the quantity of players that are able to live from this sport across all levels," Djokovic told reporters.
"Particularly the first or second tier of professional tennis, because there are thousands of players around the world. You know, we sit here and talk about multi-million-dollar prize money winner check, but we don't talk about the base level. That's where, you know, the struggle is real."
He later added: "It was a tough call for me to exit the PTPA, but I had to do that, because I felt like my name was used, overused in pretty much every single article or communication channel. I felt like, you know, people, whenever they think about PTPA, they think it's my organisation, which is a wrong idea from the very beginning. So this was supposed to be everyone, every player's organisation across the board, men and women.
"And I also didn't like how the leadership was taking the direction of the PTPA, and so I decided to step out. Does that mean that I'm not supporting PTPA? No, I am. I am still wishing them all the best, because I think that there is room and there is a need for 100 per cent players-only representation organisation existing in our ecosystem."
The Australian Open main draw commences today.