Most Sports Law students or practitioners are familiar with the major sports in the United States and Canada (baseball, basketball, football and hockey) and the relationship between player and owner which is set forth in a collective bargaining agreement outlining the terms and conditions of employment between the two parties.  But what about tennis, where the players are not part of a team and are out on their own more as independent contractors? Today we take a look at the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals), its history, where it is today, and a brief look at its current drug testing program.



The open era of tennis is relatively new, the four major tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open) did not open their doors to professional players until 1968.  Before that only amateurs players could play the four majors and professional players were kept out of the major events.  It was not until 1972 that the groundwork was put in place for a tennis players union which was first run by Jack Kramer and Cliff Drysdale.  For the first fifteen years of the ATP’s existence the tour itself was run by Men’s Tennis Council, which was made up of representatives of the International Tennis Federation, members of the ATP, and tournament directors from around the world.  For comparision from a historical prospective, Marvin Miller became executive director of the Major League baseball players union in 1966 and negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in 1968.

Similar to team sports where the owners called the shots, the ATP players in 1988 felt the tournament directors, who were similar to owners, carried too much power.  The ATP’s own website talks of about the historic "1988 Parking Lot News Conference":　

It was the defining moment in the evolution from the ATP, formed in 1972 under the leadership of superstar Jack Kramer, to the ATP Tour, the governing body of the worldwide men's professional tennis circuit.  "Tennis at the Crossroads," a plan presented at the U.S. Open by Jordan and top players as Mats Wilander and Tim Mayotte, detailed the problems and conflicts confronting men's professional tennis as well as the tremendous opportunities available for promoting and marketing the game.

If we are to draw a comparison of the changes that took place in tennis in 1988 I think we can look to the fight between the NFL and NFLPA which culminated in the court settlement of 1993 before Judge David Doty in Minneapolis.  The new NFL CBA featured the players receiving a percentage of the owners’ designated gross revenue.  This in essence formed a partnership between NFL players and owners.  Though this partnership in the NFL at times as been rocky in terms of interpretation of the meaning of the CBA, for the better part of the last 17 years the NFL has been a cash cow. Though the ATP is not the cash cow that the NFL is, the players have been given a greater voice in the decision making process of the tennis tour.

Currently, Adam Helfant is the executive chairman and president of the ATP.  Interestingly enough, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are part of a ten player ATP council which makes suggestions to the Board of Directors of the ATP tour in regard to the course of and future of the men’s tour.

Drug testing policies have come under a lot of scrutiny in all sports these days and the ATP tour is no exception. Top players in tennis are subject to some very intrusive requirements.  They must report their whereabouts 365 days a year to anti-doping testers.  See link to USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2009-01-25-tennis-testingpolicy_N.htm