"An ugly look for tennis" - Andy Roddick makes feelings known on Novak Djokovic-led PTPA's lawsuit

Andy Roddick recently aired some of his grievances with Novak Djokovic-led PTPA's lawsuit against ATP and the rest of tennis' governing bodies. The 2003 US Open champion expressed disapproval of the accusatory nature of PTPA's proceedings to reform the sport, but did wish that it would "create a sense of urgency" for the pro tours to look out better for its players.

Last week, PTPA filed a class action lawsuit against ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA, alleging that these organizations had formed a "cartel" and were not working in the best interests of the tennis players. Moreover, the Djokovic-led players-only body also accused the ATP and WTA Tour of imposing a "draconian" ranking system on the pros, forcing them to compete in certain tournaments for sponsorship purposes.

Ever since the above news broke out, Andy Roddick has been the staunchest critic of PTPA. Earlier this week, the former World No. 1 American addressed some of the issues with the breakaway organization's filing on the latest episode of his "Served with Andy Roddick" podcast. While the 42-year-old agreed with it partly, he felt "the way it was delivered" made for some "ugly" optics.

"My biggest hope for this lawsuit, as much as you know, I agree with the macro issues of tennis and disagree with the way that this was delivered..." Andy Roddick said on his podcast (from 1:16:57 onwards). "I thought it was in I think it's an ugly look for tennis, hopefully this creates a sense of urgency for the tours and the slams with the issues that players have with them that hasn't been there before."

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Andy Roddick on Novak Djokovic-led PTPA's issue with rankings system: "Welcome to f***ing sports"

Novak Djokovic has stayed strong in Miami despite PTPA controversy | Image Source: Getty

During the podcast, Andy Roddick also took exception with Novak Djokovic-led PTPA Executive Director Ahmad Nassar's diatribe against the rankings system employed by the pro tours. According to Roddick, assigning ranking points to the players based on their year-to-date performance was the optimal approach.

"The other parts that I couldn't wrap my head around were basically, like, arbitrarily deciding who gets into tournaments based on rankings. Welcome to f***ing sports, yeah?" Andy Roddick said (1:17:35). "Welcome to the best part of every sport. Like, how do we arbitrarily decide who gets into the the the playoffs in the NBA? The people who have done better. It's the best part about sports, the fact that you play, you are what your ranking says."

Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, brushed aside the ongoing controversy surrounding PTPA by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2025 Miami Open on Tuesday (March 25). The Serb only dropped four games in his victory against 15th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti and will next face local favorite Sebastian Korda.