Tournament in Miami: Tennis: Alcaraz opposes complaints from the union

The four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz joined the lawsuits of the tennis player union Ptpa around co-founder Novak Djokovic. “There are some things that I agree with. And there are other things that I don’t agree with,” said the Spaniard on the sidelines of the Masters tournament in Miami. “But it is crucial that I don’t support that.”

The union accuses the professional organizations ATP and WTA and the World Association ITF to form a “cartel” and a “corrupt, illegal and abusive system”. Therefore, more than a dozen tennis professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union had been submitted.

Among other things, the focus of the symptoms is high burdens for professionals, an too long season, arrangements to prevent competitions between the tournaments. In addition, players could hardly participate in alternative events due to a restrictive ranking system.

Djokovic is not mentioned in the PTPA notification of the lawsuits. However, the Grand Slam record winner sits in the union’s executive committee and supports the matter according to a PTPA spokesman.

Alcaraz: “Only seen on social media”

Alcaraz said he was “surprised” by the events, nobody told him about it. “I only saw it on social media,” said the 21-year-old. Alcaraz himself was cited in the more than 150 -page dossier, and the authors referred to a statement by the Spaniard as part of the Laver Cup last September.

At that time he said with a view to the ever closer schedule: “I am one of the players who are convinced that there are many tournaments during the year, mandatory tournaments, and it will probably be more tournaments in the next few years.

However, the transcript of the press conference at the time indicates that Alcaraz had meant this statement as fun.