With the on-going pandemic and crisis, the global economy is shrinking day by day. The going crisis the lowered-ranked players are facing unemployment, as their earning are based on the week to week basis from the tournaments. Recently, World Number 39 Reilly Opelka was asked how ‘the ATP has handled this crisis,’ and he was disappointed by the men’s body of tennis.

he American skyscraper Opelka won UTR Pro Match Series in Florida, USA earlier this month.

In a recent interview with The Racquet, Opelka mentioned ATP has left all the tennis players in the middle of nowhere. Instead of supporting the players, they are filling in their pockets.

BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells was the first tennis tournament to be canceled in 2020. Therein, the women’s tennis players received first-round prize money to take care of their travel expenses, whereas their men’s counterparts did not receive a single penny compensation.

“We’ve been left in the dark” – Reilly Opelka

“The ATP? I think they couldn’t have handled it much worse. We’re completely left in the dark, we don’t know what’s going on. And the execs haven’t taken pay cuts. You know, the WTA execs are taking pay cuts. The WTA has gotten first-round prize money at Indian Wells,” Opekla stated. 

By not taking care of their players during the times worse than The Great Depression in the 1930s, ATP executives will be earning a substantial amount of capital.

“I rented a really expensive house for two weeks there. The way in the red there. I don’t think it’s a good look when the ATP execs will make more money than Roger Federer‘s prize money this year. And again, I don’t know what the reasoning is. We’ve been left in the dark completely as players so we don’t even know what they’re really doing right now,” he added.

Also Read – USTA Stubborn on Holding US Open 2020 as per Schedule

The top players have the leverage of sponsorships. They have their own business ventures, and in a nutshell, money is not a matter of concern for them. But, in the present crisis, lower-ranked players are struggling to make ends meet. Some of them are thinking to quit tennis and look for an alternative job.