The governing bodies of tennis created a relief fund plan to financially help lower-level professionals during the coronavirus pandemic. The program received a lot of support from various stakeholders of the sport. However, World No.3 Dominic Thiem does not feel inclined to contribute towards the fundraising campaign. Let’s see why.
The ATP Player Council’s chief, Novak Djokovic, along with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, was involved in the discussion of implementing the relief fund plan. The program aims to raise around $4.5 million to help lower-ranked players financially since the professional Tour is suspended for an indefinite period.
“Many of them are quite unprofessional” – Dominic Thiem
Tennis is certainly a lucrative sport for top-ranked players. However, on the flip side, players in the lower echelons depend on weekly earnings for their livelihood. These players often struggle to make ends meet.
Consequently, ATP, WTA, ITF, and the organizers of the four Grand Slams took a joint decision to help these players financially during the public crisis. However, Thiem does not see a reason for helping the lower-ranked players.
“None of the lower-ranked players have to fight for their lives. I’ve seen players on the ITF-Tour who don’t commit to the sport 100 %. Many of them are quite unprofessional. I don’t see, why I should give them money,” Thiem said in an interview with Krone Sport.
“I’d rather donate to people and institutions, who really need it. There is no profession in the world, where you are guaranteed success and high income at the start of your career. None of the top players took anything for granted. We all had to fight our way up the rankings,” he added.
Thiem might be veracious on the subject. Moreover, charity just isn’t charity if it’s forced; it has to come from within. Hence, Thiem should not be forced to help raise funds for lower-ranked players if he does not believe in it. However, the tennis world is facing its worst crisis in history, and solidarity is crucial in these times. Hence, we hope that the tennis fraternity unites during these tough times.
“Grand Slams Would Stand Out” – Novak Djokovic Reveals The Criteria For The GOAT
Novak Djokovic is certainly the first choice of many tennis pundits when it comes to picking the best of all times. His records certainly testify his case and he’s also quite far from his retirement yet.
This means he will continue to amass more titles. However, his biggest adversaries in achieving this goal will always be the other two members of the Big 3 – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. While the three are already part of a thrilling Grand Slam race, they’ve been part of countless classic matches over the years.
There are many aspects that come up with respect to choosing a particular metric for the GOAT. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray tackled some of these on their Instagram Live session together. Djokovic was successful in highlighting one determinant which would be key.
What did Novak Djokovic say about the GOAT debate?
Novak Djokovic believes that to be declared the best, a player would have to be good on many levels. However, the chief metric would be to win the most number of Grand Slams.
“I think it’s combination of slams, the weeks at number one and obviously the Masters, the 1000 events and the head to head. I think grand slams would probably stand out. But it’s really hard to say, even though I personally and very fortunate that I’m in the conversation, of course, and I’m honored.
But, at the same time, it’s hard to really say greatest of all time taking the amount of slams you want or tournaments you want it whatever. Because I’ve said this to everybody, I’ve had this opinion since forever, I really don’t go into the conversation of comparing generations. I really can’t compare.”
There’s certainly no denying that Novak looks like the frontrunner when it comes to Grand Slams. He’s already at 17 and he still has a good 6 years of play left in him. At the current rate, he can surely beat Rafael Nadal’s 19 and Roger Federer’s 20 Majors. To be honest, he looked practically invincible in the recent past. Do you think Novak Djokovic can be stopped?
