PwC Legal advises the German Tennis Federation on settlement with the ATP
Frankfurt am Main, September 18th 2015
PwC Legal advised the German Tennis Federation (Deutscher Tennis Bund, or DTB) during negotiations with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). After years of disagreement, a settlement was reached regarding the legal dispute concerning the compensation of legal fees incurred during a lawsuit, which centred on the downgrading of the German Open Hamburg tennis tournament. The dispute was settled between both the DTB and the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) and the ATP.
The ATP had downgraded the Hamburg tournament, a traditional mainstay of the World Tour Masters series, and reclassified it as part of the ATP World Tour 500 series. As joint rights holders, both national tennis federations had unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against the decision in 2008 in the USA. Following this, however, the ATP demanded compensation for the lawsuit and the incurred legal fees, which were in the two-digit million range. The since April 2015 ongoing negotiations under the lead of DTB Vice President Hans-Wolfgang Kende have with the support of PwC Legal now been settled out-of-court.
With almost 1.5 million members, the DTB is the world’s largest tennis federation. Its main area of focus is on youth development. It also represents German national interests in international tennis bodies.
The Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) is responsible for all tennis-related issues in Qatar. Its main task is to develop young talent and to provide suitable training opportunities.
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is a union of male professional tennis players. It organises the ATP World Tour, comprising 62 annual tournaments, as well as the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour.
Advisors for the German Tennis Federation (DTB):
In-house: Hans-Wolfgang Kende (DTB Vice President)
PwC Legal (Mannheim):
Thorsten Ehrhard, Sebastian Wurzberger, (both team lead), Dr Timo Rinne
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