Ukrainian world No.114 Sergiy Stakhovsky has called for grand slam tournaments to reward 100,000 euros to first round losers.
The comments from the 31-year-old arose last week during the Wimbledon Championships. Stakhovsky believes that increasing prize money in tennis will keep it competitive with other sports. In recent years tennis has been under the spotlight for the divide in earnings between the best players in the world and that earned by players ranked only 50 places lower.
“I think this is possible because they are all very successful, especially the Grand Slams. I think the first round of a major should give out 100,000 euros,” he recently told Sportklub.rs.
“If we want this sport to remain alive, to compete against football, basketball and other sports, we have to attract young people. But when they see that footballers are paid millions, even those who sit in the And then a tennis player only wins when he is in the Top 100, it is logical that they will choose football. If the Grand Slams do not make the players richer, we will have a problem,” he continued.
During the Wimbledon championships, first round prize money came under scrutiny following a series of match withdrawals. Some players have been accused of deliberately playing their matches injured in order to get the prize money. Wimbledon policy states a player is not eligible for prize money unless they actually play in the tournament. Now calls have been made to enforce the ATP withdrawal/lucky loser rule. Where players can pull out of their matches and still receive the prize money.
In recent years major tournaments have increased their prize money in order to support the lower ranked players. First round losers at this year’s Wimbledon championship took home £35,000. Over double the amount that they would have received during the 2012 tournament (£14,500).
British World No.569 Alex Ward lost in the first round to Kyle Edmund at SW19 this year. The money he earned from the tournament has now put him into a position where he can consider hiring a coach.
“[The prize money] will mean a massive amount. I can invest it; get a coach to travel with me,” he told BBC Look East.
“It’s expensive, we’re travelling a lot of the time, staying in hotels, flights and what have you. Last year I was off for six months, so had nothing for that time, so this will help.”
27-year-old Ward has earned £235,312 so far in his career. This is less than one eighth of what Roger Federer won after claiming the Wimbledon title (£2.2 M).
