"I thank tennis players for making me realize I’m not so dumb" - Fans appalled as Novak Djokovic's PTPA's lawsuit is blindly backed by Corentin Moutet

Tennis fans are reacting to Corentin Moutet's statement after he revealed his reasons for supporting the Novak Djokovic-led PTPA's lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, ITIA, and the ITF. The lawsuit, which the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association) made public on March 18, wants to bring about a revolution in the way the sport is being run.

The PTPA has accused the governing bodies of tennis being run like a 'cartel' who preside over a 'corrupt system'. Many players, despite supporting the initiative, have refrained from going public. Corentin Moutet was not one of those players and openly discussed the problems of the existing system. The Frenchman boldly stated what he found wrong with the system.

"I didn't write the letter, I support their movement. I didn't write every word they said. It's up to them to do their job, and I trust them on that. On the way things are managed, the amount of fines they give us. It's getting bigger and bigger. We can get fined 10,000 euros like that, every week, for breaking a racket. When I break one, I'm not proud of myself, it's not the image I want to give, but to pay 10,000 euros in fines for that... I think we work hard to earn our money, we have our team to pay, we have a lot of expenses, so it's still a lot of money," he told L'Equipe.

However, tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) were baffled by Moutet's reasoning for backing the Djokovic-led PTPA's initiative as it was seemingly the heavy fines he was paying. One fan jokingly said,

"Sometimes I have to thank tennis players for making me realize maybe I’m not so dumb," the fan joked.

Another fan added a hilarious meme to give their take on the situation.

Here are some other reactions from tennis fans.

"Do we expect anything more from people whose life revolves around hitting a fluffy ball with a stringed bat ever since they were little kids? This doesn't reflect on their intelligence because people can be smart in their own ways but this shows how important lawyers are," a fan opined

"With all due respect to Moutet, I don't think the fines he receives are due to corruption in the system. He is the one who exceeds certain limits," a fan felt.

"tennis players never beating the allegations," a fan quipped.

"Most of these players don't go to school cuz they start training at a very young age. They don't have opportunities to develop their social skills & live in their own world where only tennis matters (understandable). Very few are smart so we shouldn't be expecting nuance from them," a fan stated.

"It's important we have an association supported by Novak Djokovic" - Corentin Moutet

Novak Djokovic - Source: Getty

Corentin Moutet revealed that he readily agreed to have his name mentioned as one of the plaintiffs in the PTPA's lawsuit as he felt there were a lot of things that need to be changed in the way tennis functioned. He also mentioned how he was delighted with the fact that an organization for the players was being run by Novak Djokovic, who in Moutet's opinion is the 'best player in history'.

"They (PTPA) asked me if my name could be mentioned, I told them that obviously. I'm not afraid, I find that there are many things that are unacceptable in what is happening. That doesn't mean that we are not lucky, we have a good life, that's for sure. But I think that there are many things in this system that must be changed, so it's important that we have an association, supported by the best player in history (Novak Djokovic)."

On the tennis side, Moutet kicked off his Miami Masters campaign with a win over Alexander Blockx and is set to face Alejandro Tabilo next. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic received a bye into the second round due to him being the fourth seed and will face Rinky Hijikata.