ATP slam Reilly Opelka for lacking credibility in lawsuit testimony as PTPA tug of war case continues

Reilly Opelka has been blasted by the ATP as lacking credibility in his version of events brought to the court with the American testifying that ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi had instructed a player to warn him of lost pensions and legal fees if they continued with the PTPA lawsuit.

The ATP denied they sent such a message albeit they don't deny briefing the Players Council on a bylaw of fee shifting which burdens the member with the legal fees from an unsuccessful lawsuit. This meaning that part of it was deemed to be true of sorts.

In a letter to the court, the ATP's counsel Brad Ruskin didn't mince his words about the American in a letter released by Daniel Kaplan on his Substack. The only reporter inside the courtroom for the first round of ATP v PTPA.

“Mr. Opelka’s repetition of mistruths highlights the problem with second-hand information (from an unidentified source) and the reason it cannot serve as a basis to restrain ATP’s speech. That Mr. Opelka’s declaration said nothing about Mr. Gaudenzi further undermines Mr. Opelka’s credibility and the reliability of his allegations, made in court, for the first time, regarding Mr. Gaudenzi.”

His credibility was further questioned as he decided not to attend the hearing to give his testimony in person as he was playing in Barcelona. He said that he was playing a tournament tomorrow but he wasn't playing for at least three more days after that.

“Plaintiffs represented that Mr. Opelka had to `be in Barcelona on April 11 to compete in the Barcelona Open’ and insinuated that ATP was effectively retaliating against him by forcing him to miss play, ‘forfeit prize money and risk losing rankings points.’ At the hearing, counsel doubled down, saying: `He is playing in a tournament tomorrow.’ However, as Mr. Opelka admitted on cross, his first match was not scheduled to take place until April 14 at the earliest.”

The PTPA on the otherhand used a lot of previous arguments of pressuring players not to sign lawsuits and the threats they were given.

“Pampoulov (an ATP Board director) admitted that when he approached one of those players, Sascha Zverev, in his private suite, he asked Zverev to sign the statement then and there—even providing a pen with which Zverev could sign it—despite knowing that Zverev had not been present for the full meeting at the time this statement was discussed with [Player] Council members

“Bans, loss of pensions, legal costs, ostracism, private pressure—these are all tools ATP is wielding.”

But now these letters will be assessed by Judge Margaret Garnett who is expecting to reach a decision on that this week but it is the first part of what will be a long running case.