Former world number two blames PTPA for 'hurting the sport' with recent lawsuit

Wimbledon 1991 champion Michael Stich believes that the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) is ‘hurting the sport’ with the recent lawsuit. The PTPA, which was co-established by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and 22 players, filed the complaint against ATP, WTA, International Tennis Federation (ITF), and International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Tuesday on charges of anti-competitive business practices, monopolizing professional tennis, and systemic abuse.

The list of players who filed the complaint includes the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, America’s Reilly Opelka, current world number 76 Corentin Moutet, and 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion Vasek Pospisil.

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Famous tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who is currently coaching former world number one Naomi Osaka, posted on LinkedIn about revenue distribution. In response, former world number two Stich stated that, in his opinion, the lawsuit is hurting the sport.

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“Dear Patrick, as a former player I can agree with some of the things you write,” the German wrote. “I was on the Players’ Board in the 90s an we tried to get more share of the money. It is a constant process over the last 50 years. But no generation has made so much money as the current. Look at the prize money of top players singles and doubles. So it has to come from those players to support the rest as you write. They have to give. It’s not up to the system. As a promoter for the Hamburg tournament, I can tell you that is difficult to generate profit for such an event. And I believe there are many tournaments that are not getting rich doing it. But they love the sport and the environment. But top players [are] asking for guarantees that are not reasonable and that creates big problems for tournaments. So start by having a limit for guarantees. Then promoter could even raise prize money. But the players want all. More money, less obligations to play, no commitment to tournaments. They have to understand that the promoters give them jobs and are a valuable partner on tour. But in my ten years there was no discussion between players and tournaments. It’s all about expectation. The PTPA is hurting the sport with their move and it makes me very sad.”

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