The legal battle between Novak Djokovic’s former organization, the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), and the Grand Slams has started on a new front. On Wednesday, the PTPA, which was co-founded by Djokovic in 2020, filed a motion in the Southern District of New York asking a federal judge to grant credentials for its staff to the French Open and Wimbledon. Both tournaments had denied the requests, citing the ongoing lawsuit between the PTPA and the Grand Slams as the reason.

The paper trail is detailed. On April 13, PTPA director of player relations Anastasia Skavronskaia sent credential requests to both the French Tennis Federation and the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The FFT responded the following day. “We have received clear guidance that we can’t grant any credentials to any party suing the FFT. Given the lawsuit in progress, we won’t unfortunately proceed with your request,” the federation’s PR director wrote. Two days later, Wimbledon followed with an identical position. “In light of the ongoing litigation with the PTPA, the AELTC will not be accrediting anyone from the PTPA’s organisation.”

On April 21, PTPA executive director Romain Rosenberg sent an email to the senior executives at both organisations asking if they would be interested in meeting during the tournaments. The FFT’s CEO responded a week later, stating that he was willing to comply with the request but would not do so without the PTPA dropping the lawsuit. CEO of Wimbledon, Sally Bolton, responded on May 1, saying she was unable to grant the credential and was not interested in the meeting.  “We do not believe this would be productive with the lawsuit ongoing,” Bolton wrote.

The PTPA’s response, “It is notable that two organizations facing collusion allegations have responded with decisions that appear coordinated when they have otherwise asserted that they operate independently,” the group said in a statement. It also cited a previous court order barring another defendant from retaliating against plaintiffs, claiming the credential denials are illegal retaliation. 

The PTPA originally filed its lawsuit in March 2025, accusing the Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA of creating a cartel to suppress wages and disregard player health. The Grand Slams were added as defendants in a September 2025 amendment. In January 2026, the Australian Open finalized its agreement with the PTPA and issued the credentials without any issues. 

The credential dispute lands at a combustible moment. The prize money row between players and Grand Slams has been simmering for weeks, and Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Maddison Keys have all made it clear they were considering a boycott.

Djokovic, along with Vasek Pospisil, who is also a founder of the PTPA, had parted ways with the group earlier this year due to issues with transparency and governance, and did not list himself as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Taylor Townsend, Hubert Hurkacz, and Ons Jabeur are part of the group’s current player executive committee, while Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka, and Sorana Cirstea are named plaintiffs.

Boycott talk and prize money row add fuel to the fire

The credential dispute is not a standalone issue. It comes at a time when player-Grand Slams relations are probably the worst in recent history. The prize money row that has been bubbling for more than a year has erupted in the weeks leading up to Roland Garros and the PTPA’s legal tussle with the French Open, and Wimbledon is the most formal sign yet of a breakdown in trust that runs across the entire ecosystem of professional tennis.

The prize money for the French Open 2026 is set at $72.3 million, which is $6.5 million more than it was in 2025 and is about 15 percent of the tournament’s total expected revenue. At first glance, it shows an increase, but in reality, it is a step backward. The players’ cut of the revenue from Roland Garros has dropped to 15.5 percent, compared with the 22 percent they’d hoped to achieve by 2030. It’s the disconnect between what the tournaments are providing and what the players are demanding that’s got the discussion into boycott territory. 

Sabalenka has been the most vocal. “I think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights. Without us, there wouldn’t be a tournament, and there wouldn’t be that entertainment,” she said earlier this month. Gauff, Rybakina, and Keys have all publicly aligned themselves with that sentiment. On the men’s side, Sinner has been careful but clear. “I do understand players are not talking about boycott because it’s somewhere we also need to start,” he said, without closing the door on the possibility entirely.

There has been no reply to the joint letter sent to the Grand Slams over a year ago by the top ten men and women calling for increased prize money, better player welfare, and better representation in decision-making. The PTPA lawsuit, originally filed in March 2025 and expanded to include the Grand Slams in September, is the legal parallel to that campaign, arguing that the tournaments and governing bodies have created a cartel that suppresses wages and disregards player health. 

The credential denial has given the PTPA an argument that they didn’t have before. By coordinating their responses and refusing access to an organisation that exists to support players at the sport’s biggest events, the French Open and Wimbledon have given credence to the very collusion allegations they are fighting in court. The players who have been watching all of this unfold in the locker rooms in Paris will reach their own conclusions, and with Roland Garros opening in a few days, the timing couldn’t be any worse.