“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 US 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.
