Prize money cut looms as ‘injured’ losers play doubles
Grand Slams to cut winnings as ‘injured’ losers play doubles
WIMBLEDON and the other Grand Slam tournaments are set to consider severe cuts to firstround losers’ money to try to avoid a repeat of the withdrawals this year.
One idea being floated by leading officials would be to reduce these payments to around £10,000 from the current £35,000 to try to discourage players from going on court when they are not fit to complete the match.
However, there would be no reduction in overall prize funds, with the balance redistributed among those who win matches in their events.
There was considerable angst yesterday around the corridors of SW19 at the negative image created by seven men withdrawing from theirheir opening-round matches.
Two happened to be on Centre Court against Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and the issue was compounded by Bernardd Tomic’s admission thathat he had barely triedried against Mischa Zverev.
While the total of seven among the men (and one woman) was an off-trend ‘spike’ in withdrawals, the adverse publicity will focus minds when the Grand Slam Board — representing the four majors — meet at Wimbledon next week.
According to locker- room sources, at least two of the firstround mid-match retirements were being widely predicted within the players’ inner sanctum before they happened.
Cutting first- round prizemoney, which has some influential support, would be a radical solution, but the argument runs that only a disincentive for unfit players to hang around and try to play would work.
Any move to slash first-round money is likely to meet fierce resistance from players’ organisations the ATP and WTA. For their rank-and-file members, the lucrative Grand Slam events are often a financial lifeline. Gaining entry to all four singles events in one year can guarantee a minimum of around £130,000 to make a living and meet the costs of travel and coaching.
And the ATP Tour are trialling their own scheme where those who pull out before a match are guaranteed first-round money, while a loser from qualifying can step in and play for the chance to make the second round and earn that portion of the purse. HoweHowever, some senior officialscials question the ethics of payingp players handsosomely for not perfforming, and it has to be remembered that the four Grand Slams operate as a separate eentity from the rest of tthe tour, which is contrtrolled by the ATP. TThis could make it difficulficult to implement another potential solution to stop those who know they are less than fit going on court to pick up the losers’ guaranteed cash. That is to ban them from playing at tournaments following the Grand Slams.
It could also be proposed that if a player retires from a singles match they are automatically barred from the doubles.
Although there is no suggestion that either of their injuries in singles were not genuine, both Viktor Troicki and Feliciano Lopez continued into the doubles draw after pulling out of their singles mid-match.
Meanwhile, the Grand Slam supervisors and referee Andrew Jarrett were still looking into the interview given by Tomic after his first-round defeat.