Novak Djokovic: Too few professionals can make a living from tennis
Novak Djokovic plays against Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Dubai today. As the founder of the Professional Tennis Players Association, the Serb always has the big picture in mind.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Mar 02, 2023, 10:32 pm
By reaching the semi-finals of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Dubai, Novak Djokovic has already brought 153,125 US dollars to his credit side. Minus taxes, of course, which Djokovic will of course not care about. The industry leader no longer plays for the money (if he ever did it at all), but only for trophies and records.
Many colleagues give him all the more credit for the fact that Djokovic also takes care of those professionals whose career prize money is not more than 150 million. And that's quite a lot. Which has resulted in the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) created by Novak Djokovic during the 2020 US Open gaining quite a bit of support. Astonishing insofar as the ATP and WTA actually define themselves as a union of players.
Djokovic in front of a full house, Medvedev not
However, not much has been heard from the PTPA in recent months. Until Wednesday in Dubai, where Novak Djokovic addressed a few things that he thinks are amiss.
“We have thousands, tens of thousands of players competing worldwide. Unfortunately, only 400 to 500 of them - women, men, doubles and mixed doubles players - can make a living from this sport."
Djokovic continued that he had the feeling that one did not want to talk about this topic. "According to some statistics, we are number three or four in the world in terms of viewership. 1.3 billion people are watching us. And yet only 400 people - men and women - can make a living from this sport.” One should urgently think about whether tennis is really doing so well.
Djokovic did not have any alternatives to the existing system in Dubai. And as the quarter-final day showed, the attractiveness of the matches is very different: while the stadium was full for Djokovic's game against Hubert Hurkacz, the ranks thinned noticeably when Daniil Medvedev and Borna Coric met. Maybe the majority of the 1.3 billion fans worldwide just want to see the really big stars first and foremost.