Monday, February 17, 2025
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Jessica Pegula not quite ready to assess her run at US Open

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New York, Sep 8: The photo is, in many ways, a snapshot of a rather specific moment in time – August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic – but it also remains a symbol of what Novak Djokovic and other players hope could end up being an important moment for the future of tennis.
Still preserved on social media, the picture shows dozens of athletes – all men, all wearing medical masks – standing in Arthur Ashe Stadium on the eve of that year’s U.S. Open, announcing the formation of the Professional Tennis Players Association. Four years later, as this U.S. Open approaches its conclusion on Sunday, the group known as the PTPA has started doing the sorts of things the players who started it, Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, had in mind back then, but also has some wondering whether it ever can become the sort of full-fledged union that negotiates collective bargaining agreements as in other sports.
“That’s ultimately the goal,” said Hubert Hurkacz, a top-10 player from Poland who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2021.
Plenty of players say they believe the PTPA can succeed.
So, naturally, does its executive director, Ahmad Nassar, who was hired two years ago for what he calls a “reboot” of a body that he said quickly realized the “admitted misstep” of having just male players involved at the outset and soon welcomed women, some of whom are among its leadership.
“It is player-led. It was player-founded. And it was founded by players who were frustrated with the current system,” Nassar said. “Fine appeals. Anti-doping appeals. … Scheduling. What do you do when it rains four days in a row? There’s a role for an independent players’ organization in all of that. Not all players are going to necessarily care, but the ones who are affected will.”
There are questions from some about whether what’s stood in the way of forming something like this in the past will create obstacles for the PTPA: Unlike in leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball or the MLS, competitors in tennis are independent contractors.
Getting them all on the same page, and figuring out a way to represent their interests with the many decision-makers – the WTA, the ATP, the International Tennis Federation, those in charge of the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open – isn’t easy.
“Tennis is a really hard sport for what they’re trying to do, so I don’t really know if it’s going to work,” said Jessica Pegula, an American who will play Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final at Flushing Meadows and is a member of the WTA Player Council.
“When you see other sports making big changes, it is because they have a union or CBA, where players actually come together. So unfortunately, I don’t know if our sport is (too) difficult for making that sort of change.” This isn’t the first time this type of thing has been discussed.
“I remember, in the mid-’90s, having these conversations when I was just getting on tour myself. Fighting for more prize money or whatever it might be,” said Tommy Haas, a retired player who now is the tournament director at Indian Wells, California.
“The PTPA and what they’re doing – their minds and their hearts are in the right places.” Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, engaged in a back-and-forth on social media this week with Pospisil and Nassar over what, exactly, the PTPA has accomplished and whether it’s meaningful. (AP)

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