Novak Djokovic’s recent letter sent to player’s urging them to donate to a relief fund to support those lower in the rankings has suffered a blow after the world No.3 of the men’s tour publicly opposed it.
Dominic Thiem, who lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open final earlier this year, has voiced his concerns about the initiative. Questioning if it would be fair to financially support some players who he believes hasn’t worked hard enough on the tour. Under the guidelines set out by the 17-time grand slam champion, Thiem would be asked to donate a total of $30,000. The money will then go into a system set up to financially support players ranked between No.250 – 700 who are unable to currently make a living due to the Tour suspension.
Djokovic, who is the president of the ATP Players Council, sent out the letter following talks with rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Should everybody get on board, a total of $1,050,000 will be generated based on the players donations alone. Although Thiem is the first top name public to come out against the proposals.
“None of the lower-ranked players have to fight for their lives. I’ve seen players on the ITF-Tour who don’t commit to the sport 100%. Many of them are quite unprofessional. I don’t see why I should give them money,” Thiem told Krone Sport.
“I’d rather donate to people and institutions, who really need it. There is no profession in the world, where you are guaranteed success and high income at the start of your career. None of the top players took anything for granted. We all had to fight our way up the rankings,” he added.
British player Tara Moore has hit back at Thiem’s remarks by insisting that there are player’s on the tour in desperate need. Moore is currently ranked 233rd in the world and has made just $2,815 so far in 2020, according to the WTA website. On Twitter, Moore argues that potential future stars of the sport could be driving away from the sport due to the current situation.
“Unfortunately, this is what some of the higher ranked players think. Sadly a lot of lower ranked players are “people really in need now” some are unable to even buy food or get medical help,” said Moore.
“They have essentially lost their job too and if he would want a sport To come back to then he would understand the desperation. There’s possibly a future grand slam champion ranked outside 500 who is not coming back from this crisis. There’s players whose family members are sick and their only income is tennis (coaching, club matches).”
Whilst some of his fellow lower ranked players may not be happy with his view, Thiem has insisted that hard work is the way forward instead of payouts.
“With any job, I actually never have any guarantee that I will do the job well and that I, one day, will make a lot of money with it. This is basically my opinion on the topic.” He concluded.
Thiem, who played on the low-level ITF Futures Tour for two years, have made $1,741,574 in 2020 prior to the Tour suspension. His career prize money earnings are almost $24 million.
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— José Morgado (@josemorgado) April 26, 2020
