Novak Djokovic demands increment as he exposes the prize money ‘problem’ in professional tennis

In the midst of the ongoing prize money controversy, Novak Djokovic has advocated for a more equitable division of earnings for all professional tennis players.

Many of the game’s biggest stars have expressed their outspoken concerns about the competition’s money distribution, and they are all looking for solutions to close the payment discrepancies.

Although sportsmen in sports like the NFL, NHL, and NBA are known to receive large salaries, Nick Kyrgios claims that the inequalities on the field are not comparable to those in tennis.

The disparity between the top-ranked players and the rest of the competition, according to Kyrgios, is “a joke” because many players find it difficult to handle the expenses and travel requirements of competing. Djokovic, Kyrgios’s doubles partner at the Brisbane International, backed the obvious problem the Australian brought to light.

“I’m just going to state a fact, it’s not my opinion,” he said following his round two victory in Brisbane.

“The fact is that that’s true, what he’s saying.

“The pie split between the governing bodies in major sports, all major American sports, is around 50 per cent, maybe more. Ours is way lower than that. It is true.

The world No. 7 stated his intention to make strides in closing the pay disparities that are evident in the support industry as the founder of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).

“Obviously it’s slightly – well, quite different sport because [tennis] is international.

“We are under different rules and regulations of different countries and legislations, taxes, et cetera.

“[But] it’s quite fragmented from that point of view.”

“It’s quite different for us… and is one of the reason why the PTPA was formed – to represent better players’ rights and voices,” the 24-time major title winner said.

“I don’t think that’s been done to the level that is satisfactory with ATP and WTA over the years.

“I’ve been president of players council for quite a few years. I’ve been in the council almost 10 years. I know exactly how the system works.

“At the end of the day, unfortunately, players don’t really make a decision on the big topics.

“We have problem there. We have a problem in the very – how can I say – structure of the ATP is that as players we only have the 50 per cent of that organsation.

“For most of the years, you had the president who had the deciding vote, right?” he continued.

“You would think that whatever players council decides, that the player board representatives would go on the board and vote for that. That hasn’t been the case always.

“There’s always – not always but a lot of time there was conflict of interest between tournaments and players. We wanted different thing. We are part of the same system, and we can’t go without each other, but we are often times in conflictual situations.

“We want more money, they maybe don’t want to give us as much money when we talk about the prize money.

“There’s so many different layers of the prize money that you have to look into. It’s not that simple.