The past seven days at the Australian Open has been more about what players have said off court than what they have produced on it.
Prize money continues to be one of the hot subjects among the world’s elite. The most recent debate was triggered by a speech given by Novak Djokovic at an ATP meeting. In it, he called for players to receive a higher share of the revenue tournaments make. It has been suggested that players receive as little as 7% in the share of revenue made, but the exact figure is disputed.
Djokovic has since played down the hype surrounding his words, saying after his first round match that he has been unfairly portrayed by some media outlets. Stating that he never called for a boycott of ATP events over pay. Nevertheless, the fallout continues with Roger Federer backing calls for a hike in money.
“Yes, they could definitely pay more, no doubt about it,” Federer said. “They know that. We’re not partners. We’re just players. It’s always hard to rally.
“We had a good agreement, in my opinion, that made the grand slams happy and the players pretty happy. It seems like that has run its course.
“The moment that happens, there’s not the same increases any more so players have to rally, get back together again, put in the effort. The grand slams know that.
“They will only react when we do so. We’re ready to do it. It’s going to be the same process over and over again.”
The latest person to voice their support was Jamie Murray on Saturday. A former world No.1 doubles player who lost in the second round earlier in the week. The Brit has criticised the prize money difference between singles and doubles players. At the Australian Open the doubles champions will win £400,000. Nearly six times less than the singles winner prize of £2.3 million.
“It seems like it’s getting further and further apart, which I don’t think is really a great sign of things to come.” Said Murray, who is a member of the ATP Players council.
“They obviously have their reasons and we have to find a way to bring more value to the tournament.”
This year’s Australian Open has a record prize money pool of AUS$55 million.
Calls to broaden horizons
As the argument over pay continues, a fresh dynamic was added by the WTA. On Wednesday it was confirmed that Shenzhen will be hosting the WTA Finals after securing a record breaking ten-year deal. The new venue has committed to double the prize money to $14 million. More than the men’s equivalent.
Djokovic was one of the first players to express their support for the milestone in women’s tennis. Before suggesting that it was time for the ATP Finals to be relocated from London to help promote the sport to other areas of the world. Calling the city a ‘safe option.’
“It should be leveraged more because of the promotion of our sport,” he said.
“If we want to grow our sport, especially in regions like China or those parts of the world where tennis is popular, I think we should think about it, just maybe travel it a little bit more.”
It is not the first time a player has called for the season-ending event to be moved elsewhere, despite its success in London. Rafael Nadal has previously expressed his desire for the event to be played on the clay. Although Roger Federer has personally expressed his doubts over that given the time of the season.
For the foreseeable future the event will be held in London until 2020.
The heat
In recent days, the criticism moved from pay to the conditions players are subjected to. On Thursday and Friday the temperature at Melbourne Park reached 40 degrees. Prompting heavy criticism for allowing the continuation of play in such hot weather. Gael Monfils was seen struggling in his second round match with Djokovic and Alize Cornet collapsed during her match.
“It’s not reasonable … I felt like I was in an oven,” Cornet said.
“I thought, ‘we’re crazy to be here’.
“It’s great for the spectator but for us we’re at our limit. I think there’s a question for the heat rules.
“Yes we are in danger, we all know our bodies, I felt I was at my limit, I felt I might faint.”
As the tournament came under criticism for their approach, director Craig Tiley insisted that players were not at risk. Despite Djokovic describing them as ‘brutal’ and Monfils saying he was ‘putting himself in danger.’ On top of that, some players said they were at a disadvantage compared to others due to the time of the day they were playing.
“Protecting our players and the fairness of the competition is paramount in these conditions, which we acknowledge can be challenging. We work closely with our medical team to ensure players are educated on best practice in terms of preparing for the conditions, and as we know many of them come to Australia early so they can acclimatise.” Tilley said in a statement.
It in inevitable that Off-court politics will continue into week two of the Australian Open. Whilst the focus should be on the court, it is what happens off of it that could shape the future of the sport.
There will certainly be tough times ahead for the governing bodies of tennis.
