Indian Wells and Miami like Robin Hood: less money for winner, more for qualifiers



by LORENZO CIOTTI

Indian Wells and Miami like Robin Hood: less money for winner, more for qualifiers
© Julian Finney / Staff Getty Images Sport

Indian Wells and the Miami Open like Robin Hood: they will take from the rich to give to the poor. This is the new, virtuous policy of the two Sunshine Doubles tournaments. The two combined events decreased the prize money for the winner, finalist and semi-finalists.

At the same time, the prize money for players who play the qualifiers and stop in the first rounds of the competition will be significantly increased. Will the choice of the two tournaments be followed by other events during this season? This is a positive response to the appeal carried out by Novak Djokovic's PTPA, which makes this topic one of the pillars of its political foundations.

An important change has been made by the organizations of the two tournaments, which have decided to distribute the total prize money up for grabs differently. The competition thus wanted to lend a helping hand to all those second-tier athletes.

Suffice it to say that whoever enters the main draw and immediately exits in the first round will receive a prize of $30 thousand. Indian Wells and Miami have at the same time tried to entice tennis players to travel and take part in the North American hard court tour in March.

In fact, in recent years, there were several players around the top 100 who chose to stay in Europe and participate in the Challengers, rather than booking a flight to the United States and a long stay of 2-3 weeks.

In line with the ideas of the PTPA

A few months ago, Djokovic, in a video published on the PTPA's official Instagram profile, reiterated the importance of the project and sent a message to the new generations of tennis players.

"The time has been ripe for a while. But in terms of organisation, the time is ripe more than ever. We have a great team. We are trying to refine our structure and our management to demonstrate mainly to the players but also to the entire ecosystem, that we are credible and present: we are not going anywhere We will fight for the right of players to have a meaningful seat at the decision-making table for both men's and women's tennis.

I, as a player, understand what tennis players are going through. I have been playing tennis for 20 years. I was the president of the Players Council for years. I feel it is an absolute necessity to have an organization that represents 100% of the players' rights.

For more than 20 years, several generations of players have tried to build such a system. For various reasons and factors, they have failed to create a true player organization. But now we have done it and I urge all players to recognize its importance.

I am especially addressing the younger generations, who do not want to take risks. They think they want to be conservative, they want to focus on the games. They don't want to lose what they have earned or what they are a part of - I understand that and I don't judge them. But by supporting the PTPA, you're actually supporting yourself and your future," he explained.

Indian Wells