Australian Open officials confident of no boycott – Tennis News
There is a massive hullaballoo about the payouts for the early round exits at the Australian Open and most of the players are planning to boycott the upcoming edition of the year’s first Grand Slam Championship that is held at
Melbourne.
The dilemma has severely damaged the image of the Australian Open Championship that is considered to be one of the most prestigious events in the history of tennis. A quick action is required to calm the nerves of the young guns
that are highly displeased by the low prize money for the early round exits especially the first round losers.
Despite this entire hubbub, the officials of the Australian Open are confident that there will no boycotts in the next edition of the Championship that will take place in the first month of 2013. The director of the tournament,
Craig Tiley, is aware of the consequences of the boycott but has assured the viewers that they will have an action packed Australian Open in Melbourne just like any other year with no player exiting the tournament for wage purposes.
He stated, “We are working on a compensation plan for the 2013 event and are keen to ensure it addresses a lot of the issues players have been raising with us in our ongoing discussions.”
Tiley further added, “The problem is that the players that are ranked about 100 and lower are not making sufficient money to support them right throughout the year. It’s not necessarily just a Grand Slam problem, it’s an all-sport
problem and I think the entire sport needs to sit down and help address the issue, because at the lower ranks of our sport the prize money hasn’t changed in 25 years and that’s just not good enough.”
It was harsh on the officials of the Australian Open to be bashed for a low prize money because they were the highest payers this year with a mammoth takeaways of almost Aus$26 million. It might sound a bit harsh to others but
that’s a reality and there is no denying of that fact. Let’s hope no player is missed because of this dilemma.
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