04/26/2020 - 16:19
- Clarín.com
- sports
With Novak Djokovic at the helm, the top 100 tennis players in the world pledged to help those with the lowest ranking, before the tournament stoppage due to the coronavirus. However, Dominic Thiem, the Austrian who ranks third and who has more than 23 million dollars in prizes in his career, complained because he should contribute 30,000.
" None of the lower-ranking players have to fight for their lives. I have seen players on the ITF Tour who are not 100 percent committed to the sport. Many of them are not very professional. I don't see why I should give them money. " Thiem said in an interview published this Sunday in the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
He added: "I prefer to donate to people and institutions that really need it. There is no profession in the world that guarantees success and high income at the beginning of their careers. All of us had to fight to move up the ranking."
Her statements made noise in the world of tennis and one of those who complained was Tara Moore , the Englishwoman who is ranked 447th in the women's ranking.
Dominic Thiem, finalist of the last Australian Open Photo: EFE
"Unfortunately, this is what some of the top ranked players think. Many of the lower ranked players are really needy people now. Some are not even able to buy food or get medical help," said the Brit.
"They have lost their job and if he (for Thiem) wanted the sport, he would understand the desperation of these players. Possibly there will be a future Grand Slam champion ranked out of the 500th position who will not return from this crisis. There are players whose relatives are sick and his only income is tennis, "he replied to the Austrian.
Thiem's complaint comes just days after the ATP and WTA announcement of creating a fund to support struggling players. An initiative with which stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Djokovic would plan to contribute.
"It seems that there will be between 3 and 4.5 million dollars redistributed for those players," Djokovic had estimated, referring to the support fund that could be fed at the same time by the instances of world tennis, "probably by the Grand Slam" and by the players.
According to the specialized press, Djokovic, as president of the ATP Players Council, which includes Federer and Nadal, sent a message to colleagues, in which he proposed that the members of the Top 100 in the individual ranking and those of the Top 20 in doubles will contribute to that fund according to their position: from $ 30,000 those in the Top 5 to $ 5,000 those located from 51st to 100th place.