Vienna (Austria) (AFP)
Austrian Dominic Thiem, world N.3, does not intend to contribute to the future support fund intended to help badly ranked tennis players, weakened by the cessation of competitions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"Many players do not put sport above everything and do not live professionally. I do not really see why I should give money to such players. I prefer to give money to people or to organizations that really need it, "said Thiem in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung published on Sunday.
This discordant speech comes a few days after the announcement by ATP and the WTA of the creation of a support fund to help players in greatest difficulty (Player Relief Fund). An initiative to which the "Big Three", formed by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic wishes to contribute, as the Serb confided on April 18 on Instagram.
"At this stage, it seems that there will be between 3 and 4.5 million dollars redistributed to these players," estimated the world N.1, referring to the support fund to come, and which could be fed to both by the authorities of world tennis, "probably the Grand Slam", and the players.
According to the trade press, Djokovic, as president of the ATP Players Council, which also includes Federer and Nadal, proposed in a message to the players that the members of the top 100 in singles, and those of the top 20 in duplicate, contribute to this fund, according to their classification (from 30,000 dollars for the top 5 to 5,000 dollars for players between 51st and 100th place).
© 2020 AFP