Aryna Sabalenka has called for players to receive more of the money that they earn from competing at tournaments. The Belarusian was quizzed on the PTPA’s class action lawsuit against ATP, WTA, ITIA, and ITF when she ruled that the percentages are not enough. Sabalenka booked her spot in the Round of 32 of the Miami Open on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Viktoriya Tomova.
Speaking after her success, the 26-year-old was asked about the ongoing PTPA lawsuit, and the world No. 1 did not shy away from putting her demands on the table and outlining how she hopes the tennis scene will change.
She explained: “Honestly, I haven’t had much time to look for information because I didn’t want to delve into it since I was trying to focus on my tennis, and I didn’t want to get upset or anything about the situation.
“One thing I would like to see is maybe not just WTA players, but all players, receive a larger percentage of the money they earn at tournaments and Grand Slams, especially. I think it’s fair. If you look at other sports, the percentage works a little differently, so I think that’s the only wish I have.”
Sabalenka is not the first player to speak out on the percentage of money players receive from the funds raised in prize money, Coco Gauff also spoke out on the matter in an indicator that the view is felt by plenty of stars.
She said: “For me, I guess the biggest thing would be more of a percentage of the revenue in prize money. I also can’t sit here and complain. I’m a professional athlete, I get paid pretty well to do what I love.
“The amount of work isn’t equal to the reward – I’m an athlete, there’s people who deal with much harder things in this world. So yes, if you want to compare it to other sports, then yes, but if you want to compare it to other things in life, I’m not going to sit here and complain.
“Obviously for the women’s side of things making as many tournaments as we can equal to the men when it comes to prize money. There’s a whole other thing when it comes to visibility and things like that we can also improve on.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk