Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t support the bombshell tennis lawsuit which Nick Kyrgios says has been a long time coming

Nick Kyrgios thought he was changing tennis for everyone when he put his name to a bombshell lawsuit, but not all of his fellow players are on-board.

Nick Kyrgios is adamant the lawsuit launched against the governing bodies of tennis is a “special moment” because “things needed to change”, but the action doesn’t have the support of Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.

The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA), formed by superstar Novak Djokovic and Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in 2020, dropped a bombshell this week, announcing legal action aimed at the tennis “cartels” running the sport.

Amid a slew of allegations, it was claimed the ATP, WTA and ITF, which run tennis, as well as the International Tennis Integrity Agency, had implemented “a number of draconian, interlocking anti-competitive restraints and abusive practices” that stifled the game worldwide.

Kyrgios, who secured his first ATP win since 2022 in Miami on Thursday morning, was among 20 plaintiffs named in the action and said it had been coming for a while and incredibly necessary.

“I felt like people knew things were going on behind the scenes for a long time,” he said in Miami.

“Myself, Djokovic, we all wanted to do something like this for the future of tennis.

Nick Kyrgios said the lawsuit had been ‘coming’. Picture: Rich Storry/Getty Images

“Myself, many of the other players are not happy with the structures and everything that is going in with tennis at the moment.

“I’ve been as involved as I can be with everything I’ve got going on.

“This will be a special moment in tennis for sure, things needed to change. It’s a big day for tennis.”

Among the PTPA documents is a quote from Alcaraz from a press conference in which he criticised the tour schedule.

But the world No.3 said he wasn’t aware of the action, had nothing to do with it and didn’t support it.

“Honestly, it was surprising for me, because nobody told me nothing about it, so I was just, yesterday, I saw in the social media,” Alcaraz said.

“I saw that there were some statements that they put something that I said in press conference, which I didn’t know. I don’t support that letter, I don’t support that because, as I said, I didn’t know anything about it.

Carlos Alcaraz has pushed back on the tennis lawsuit. Picture: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

“There are some things that I agree with, there are some other things that I’m not agreeing with, but the main thing here is that I’m not supporting that, so that’s it.”

The ATP also declared it would defend itself vigorously against the action.

“We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position,” an ATP statement said.

“ATP remains committed to working in the best interests of the game – towards continued growth, financial stability, and the best possible future for our players, tournaments and fans.” 

Originally published as Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t support the bombshell tennis lawsuit which Nick Kyrgios says has been a long time coming