Marion Bartoli wants to see less money in doubles: "Some players have six people with them"
Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli has betted against the prize money from doubles - and now has to face some criticism.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 28, 2020, 01:17 pm
Bartoli was already aware of the fact that she would probably not make friends. But she thinks you have to say it. And did just that. "I don't understand all of the double competitions throughout the year. I understand that during the Grand Slams and Olympics because doubles are part of the history of tennis," the 35-year-old said in a chat. "I've been to some tournaments with my player and I've seen the doubles now have teams, six people around them. When I was a player, single player, we couldn't afford to pay six people to travel with us all the time and they can afford to pay six people even though they only play doubles. "
Bartoli's opinion: The corresponding money that would be earned in doubles should rather go to (single) qualifiers, or players at Challenger tournaments. Because in doubles you do not have the same effort as a single player. "You don't train that much ... and yet they keep playing, making that money week after week." She did not know whether to completely stop the double, "but to distribute less and give this money to the qualifiers and others would be a solution."
Bartoli's statements naturally met with fierce criticism from the doubles. "We could never afford six people," tweeted, for example, Joran Vlieg , currently number 36 in the double world. "We just recently hired a touring coach. We train five to six hours a day. That is probably not enough for them." Of course there is a problem with the prize money distribution among the lower placed players. "But that's not the solution to change that."
Gaby Dabrowski counters Bartoli: "No double player can afford a full-time team"
Gaby Dabrowski , number 7 of the double world, also criticized decisively. Doubles would average less than 19 percent of single player earnings. Is Bartoli aware that this money still has to be divided between the two players ..? Double is also another game, it depends on other virtues such as finesse and net game. And the work that Bartoli himself would have invested - in some cases training hours before a match - would not invest in other individual players, most would only warm up for 30 minutes to 1 hour on the day of the match. Many doubles would like to train more, but would not get any seats. "With the money that the Grand Slams and others made, you could easily support the lower ranked players, if that's what the umbrella organizations wanted. Maybe you start with those who make hundreds of millions before moving on to the Peanuts compared to that. "
If she also only got a dollar, every time she was asked where to look more doubles or why doubles were so rarely used in big places, "then I could go to retirement sand immediately," Dabrowski continued.
And the most important thing: "Nobody who only plays doubles travels with six people. Not a single one." Some tennis associations would send a group of people to work with all players. But she doesn't know a double player who travels with a maximum of one or two people, even that only temporarily. In reality, you share a coach with one or more other players. And why? "Because doubles can't afford a full-time team. We'd lose money that way every week."