NADAL SAYS LOWERRANKED PLAYERS NEED MORE BACKING

World number one Rafael Nadal voiced his support for players to demand a greater share of tennis revenues, saying that more lower-ranked professionals should be able to make a living from the sport.

Nadal’s comments follow media reports this week that Novak Djokovic, the president of the Players’ Council, had urged players to unionise at a pre-Australian Open meeting and revolt over the way the revenues from the four grand slams are distributed.

The 30-year-old Serb denied any threat of a boycott on Tuesday. Nadal, a former vice-president of the Players’ Council, said tennis had improved “a lot” for lower-ranked players in recent years but felt more needed to be done.

“Just to be clear, at some point, I don’t know 100 percent about what’s going on or not, but at some point, it’s good that the players speak between each other about what we want or what we don’t want,” he told reporters. ‘That’s all. (It’s) not about union or not union. Forget about this ... I believe that the tennis improved a lot the last couple of years for the lower ranking players.

“One sport is bigger not only when the top guys win a lot of money. It’s bigger when a sport creates a lot of jobs. If there is 300 people living from tennis is better than if there is only 100. But that’s my opinion.

We have to fight to make our sport better, bigger, and to have the best show possible for the crowd. Only like this we going to grow in all terms.

RAFAEL NADAL, World No. 1