Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are role models for many and are simply considered the figureheads of tennis. It is all the more surprising that Argentine tennis professional Marco Trungelliti is now harshly criticizing the two tennis icons.
“Whether you like it or not. They are complicit in how bad the system is. Because they were not able to even open their mouths and fight for the rights of the players,” the Argentine emphasized to La Nación. “If they ever did anything, it was only internally, but it didn’t change anything.”
What he means by this is the difficult conditions for tennis players who do not compete for the high prize money of the biggest tournaments. While the tennis stars and top players at the top earn millions in prize money and sponsorship money, players outside the top 100 have to struggle with low prize money.
“As players they can be very good, but as people trying to improve the system in general they seem to me very poor,” Trungelliti continued his criticism. The current 236th in the world (2019: 112th place) would have liked the two tennis legends to have used their charisma in the scene more for lower-class players.
“Just this year the prize money for the Challenger tournaments was changed a little, but they are still embarrassing even though we are supposedly coming out of the most golden era in the history of tennis,” complained the 33-year-old, who plays another tennis player praised for his commitment.
According to him, Novak Djokovic is “indispensable” and a role model in combating inequality in tennis, as the 24-time Grand Slam champion founded the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) two years ago and has been campaigning for higher prize money ever since the lower segments of tennis.
2023-10-11 09:34:09
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