Nick Kyrgios Hits Out At Dominic Thiem Over Player Funding Opposition - UBITENNIS

Nick Kyrgios Hits Out At Dominic Thiem Over Player Funding Opposition

The world No.3 has been accused of failing to understand the needs of lower ranked players on the Tour.

By Adam Addicott
4 Min Read

Australian No.2 Nick Kyrgios has criticised Dominic Thiem over his stance regarding giving money to lower ranked player’s currently affected by the Tour suspension due to COVID-19.

All tennis tournaments have been suspended until at least July because of the pandemic. Leaving hundreds of players on the Tour unable to earn money. Unlike team sports, tennis is essentially based on a self-employment basis with prize money being their main source of income.In recent weeks there has been calls for more to be done to help support those in need with world No.1 Novak Djokovic recently issuing a letter outlining his idea. In it, the world No.1 purposes players in the top 100 donate money to a specialist fund set up for those ranked between 250-700 in the world.

However, Djokovic’s well meaning initiative has recently come under fire from Australian Open finalist Thiem, who argues that player’s should be able to choose who they give their money to instead. Saying he believes some who play on the Futures Tour doesn’t deserve funding because they are ‘unprofessional’ and ‘doesn’t commit fully’ to the sport.

“There are just a few things that bother me about the whole thing,” Thiem told Sky Sports Austria.
“I don’t back down from my opinion that there are some players I don’t want to support. Therefore, I would much prefer it to be chosen by the players themselves, because then those players who really need it and who really deserve it will benefit.”
“It is a fact anyway, not only in the current time. There will always be people, animals and organizations who need support much more urgently than probably every single athlete.” He added.

Responding to Thiem’s stance, Kyrgios has accused his rival of failing ‘to understand the point’ and that he should empathize with those ranked lower than him. The world No.40 has also recently hit out at the sports governing bodies for their management of a Player Relief Program, which is still to be finalised. On social media Kyrgios said the amount of time they were taking to launch the program was ‘poor form’ and urged them to ‘Hurry up.’

“He still doesn’t understand the point,” Kyrgios said on Instagram about Thiem. “We at the top get paid far too much and there is not enough to go around.
“It’s about helping where we can, professional or unprofessional, put yourself in their shoes.”

So far in 2020, Thiem has earned the second highest amount of prize money on the ATP Tour. The majority of which came from his run to the Australian Open final in January. He also won one match at the ATP Cup and two matches in Rio de Janeiro to bring his total to $1,741,574. In comparison Thiem’s Davis Cup teammate, Jurij Radinov, has earned $25,999 from playing 22 singles matches. The world No.166 has won two Challenger titles and was a semi-finalist in another so far this season.

All professional tennis tournaments have been suspended until July 13th. However, it is expected that the suspension will be extended further in the coming weeks.

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