Nadal says lower-ranked players need more money
Print Edition
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal voiced his support for players to demand a greater share of tennis revenues, saying that more lower-ranked professionals should be able to make a living from the sport.
Nadal鈥檚 comments follow media reports this week that Novak Djokovic, the president of the Players鈥 Council, had urged players to unionise at a pre-Australian Open meeting and revolt over the way the revenues from the four grand slams are distributed.
The 30-year-old Serb denied any threat of a boycott on Tuesday.
Nadal, a former vice-president of the Players鈥 Council, said tennis had improved 鈥渁 lot鈥 for lower-ranked players in recent years but felt more needed to be done. 鈥淛ust to be clear, at some point, I don鈥檛 know 100 percent about what鈥檚 going on or not, but at some point, it鈥檚 good that the players speak between each other about what we want or what we don鈥檛 want,鈥 he said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 all. (It鈥檚) not about union or not union. Forget about this ... I believe that tennis improved a lot the last couple of years for the lower ranking players.
鈥淥ne sport is bigger not only when the top guys win a lot of money. It鈥檚 bigger when a sport creates a lot of jobs.
鈥淚f there is 300 people living from tennis is better than if there is only 100.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 my opinion. The real thing is if we can help at some point to the players that needs more help, will be fantastic.鈥
Tennis has been compared unfavorably with rival sports like soccer, golf and basketball in terms of the number of professionals able to make a living in the game and the overall share of wealth given to players.
But the Spaniard, who has earned US$94,588,627 in prize money from the men鈥檚 professional ATP tour, suggested such comparisons were unhelpful.
鈥淵ou know what? The market is the market,鈥 said the 31-year-old. 鈥淲e cannot fight about the market. Probably our sport is more global than football.
鈥淎t the same time the sport is much bigger, football (more) than tennis, in terms of money, in terms of millions of fans. But we cannot compare the sports. We have to fight to make our sport better, bigger, and to have the best show possible for the crowd. Only like this we going to grow in all terms.鈥
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