It should be expected that there will be an increase in players not going to tournaments due there being less prize money on offer, according to world No.12 Denis Shapovalov.
The economic impact of COVID-19 on tennis is continuing to take its toll with tournaments being forced to cut their financial incentives significantly. Best Illustrated by the upcoming Miami Open who have slashed their prize money pool from $16.7 million in 2019 to $6.68 million in 2021. This year’s men’s and women’s champions will be rewarded with a payment of $300,110 compared to $1.354M in 2019.
Whilst the reasons for the cuts are understandable, Shapovalov believes players now have less of an incentive to play the lower level tournaments. The Canadian is playing in the Dubai Tennis Championships this week. The champion will earn over $400,000 less than what they would have made 12 months ago at the same event ($149,490 against $565,705).
“I definitely think there’s going to be a lot of withdrawals and a lot of people not going to tournaments because the prize money is low,” said Shapovalov.
“In a way it’s not motivating to play every week and play all the big tournaments because there’s not really a lot in it for us other than the slams at this point that are paying just as much or better, like in Australia this year,” he added.
Shapovalov is not the only player to have this view. Elina Svitolina has previously said that the current situation is having an impact on her motivation for playing smaller tournaments and she is more likely to skip them if she feels tired. Meanwhile, Benoit Paire has recently hit out at ‘bubble life’ on the Tour, which is where tournament’s set up certain zones for players to stay in order to minimise the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak.
“Why tear yourself away like a crazy person to earn just a little more?” The Frenchman said earlier this week.
Looking ahead to the future, Shapovalov says he is hopeful that the ATP can find a way to restore the prize money levels to where they previously were. However, it may be a while before that occurred. ATP chairman Andrea Gudenzi said earlier this month that over the past year tournaments have suffered losses in the region of $60-$80 million.
“Hopefully the ATP or someone can do something to improve the prize money and bring it back to what it was, but it is what it is right now,” said Shapovalov.
The ATP says they are on track to retain 77% of the 2019 prize money levels this season and are hopeful that it could rise during the second part of the year if more fans are allowed to attend events.
