Jay Clarke admits PTPA lawsuit was ‘much bigger than I anticipated'

Powys County Times

a day ago

Jay Clarke admitted he did not know what he was getting himself into when he put his name to a lawsuit against tennis' governing bodies.
The 26-year-old was the only British player named as a plaintiff in the explosive case, which has pitted the Professional Tennis Players Association, a body co-founded by Novak Djokovic, against organisations including the ATP and WTA.
The PTPA branded the governing bodies as a cartel, with Wimbledon and the other grand slams named as co-conspirators.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀.
Today, the PTPA and over a dozen players, on behalf of the entire professional population, filed a sweeping series of legal actions against the ATP, WTA, ITF and ITIA to reform professional tennis. https://t.co/1r4LWQpopP
— Professional Tennis Players Association (@ptpaplayers) March 18, 2025
Djokovic notably was not named as a plaintiff and quickly sought to distance himself from some of the aspects of the case, and Clarke subsequently decided to take his name off the lawsuit.
He also reached out to Wimbledon to clarify his position, and Clarke's role in the case did not prevent him being awarded a wild card for a fifth time.
'I love being here,' he said. 'I've played Wimbledon a number of times, trying to be a member here and stuff like that as well. I know a lot of the people inside.
'I don't think it's necessarily a big thing. I just needed to kind of say where I stood on it. I just think it was much bigger than I anticipated initially.'
On the strong language used in the lawsuit, which accuses the governing bodies of systemic abuse, anti-competitive practices, and a blatant disregard for player welfare, Clarke added: '(It was) very surprising, to be honest. I think everyone was surprised by that.
'I think it kind of caught us all off guard. Obviously, we're tennis players, we're not lawyers, so it's just not something that I was comfortable doing.'
Clarke does, though, support a lot of the PTPA's demands, including a better distribution of wealth and a greater focus on player welfare.
The Derby player, who is ranked 199th, underwent wrist surgery in 2023 and he said: 'I played four Challengers in India, obviously coming back from wrist surgery, four weeks in a row in the same country and we're using different balls every week. And it's just these things need to be better. I think it's a really simple fix.
'I'm not alone. I think all tennis players want tennis to improve, want it to push forwards. I don't think someone on my ranking should be watching pennies trying to figure out which flight is cheaper, and stuff like that.
'I did nine weeks in India. It's a lot of travel. I had a coach with me every week. After paying flights and stuff, I was £3,000 pounds down. And the second half of the trip I won 18 matches and lost two. So it is really tough.
'I think tennis is a big enough sport, and it generates enough revenue, for more than 100 people to be benefiting from the sport. I think a lot of the other sports, they have a better revenue split and tennis is too far behind in that.'
This week will certainly help Clarke's finances. A Wimbledon wild card comes with guaranteed prize money of £66,000, and that would increase to £99,000 if he can get the better of fellow British wild card Dan Evans in the first round and set up a likely meeting with Djokovic.