June 9, 2009

The Wimbledon Strike

The 2009 French Open is in the books.  Roger Federer has made his break through at Roland Garros.  The men of the ATP Tour have two weeks of warm-up events before Wimbledon, then the Big W itself starts play on June 22, 2009.  Did you know that in 1973 the male players actually went on strike at Wimbledon?



In 1973 the governing body of tennis at the time, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), suspended Nikki Pilic for not playing a Davis Cup match.  Pilic’s suspension for one month would force him to miss Wimbledon.  The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) got behind Pilic and proposed a boycott of Wimbledon if Pilic’s suspension was not lifted.  Things got ugly between the Union and the ILTF and no settlement was reached. For all intents and purposes the players of ATP went on strike for Wimbledon.  All but 3 of the top 70 male players elected to boycott Wimbledon.  Similar to the 1987 NFL season when replacement players were brought in for three weeks of the NFL season, Wimbledon of 1973 was essentially featuring a draw of replacement tennis players.

The power of the players union can be seen in the baseball as the MLBPA led by Donald Fehr has avoided a salary cap for years.  No one will every forget the year of 1994 when the World Series was cancelled, as the Major League owners and the Union could not save the season from the lock-out.  The ATP may not be on a par with the MLBPA, but it has made huge strides in its 37 years of existence.

Later on this week we'll take a closer look at the ATP.