Kyrgios is right, players are underpaid

Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, January 3, 2024
Image source: TennisTV

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The Serbian superstar is the richest man in professional tennis history, earning more than $185 million during his illustrious career.

When asked to comment on Nick Kyrgios's claim that tennis players are “ridiculously” underpaid, Djokovic fully supported Kyrgios' statement.

Djokovic said tennis players did not get their fair share from the sport compared to other major sports.

“I'm just stating a fact. It's not my opinion,” Djokovic told media in Brisbane. “That's what it is, what [Kyrgios is] explain. The share among the major sports management agencies, all major American sports, such as NFL, NBA, baseball, NHL, may be more than 50%, some less, but they are all around 50%.

“We're at a much lower level than that. That's true. Obviously, it's a slightly – well, completely different sport because it's international and played around the world. We're subject to different rules and regulations in different countries and the impact of legislation, taxation, etc.

Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios said player bonuses were “a joke” compared to other sports, especially given how international tennis is.

“Compared to any other sport, this tour is ridiculous,” Kyrgios said. “The amount of travel we do is really ridiculous considering we don't even get paid what we're supposed to do, it's a joke.”

Former ATP Player Council chairmen Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil founded the Professional Tennis Players Association to give professional players full representation in match decision-making.

In Brisbane, Djokovic reiterated his long-standing claim that the ATP board structure is broken and does not adequately represent the interests of players.

“We have a problem – how do I put it?—The structure of the ATP is that as players we only own 50% of the organization,” Djokovic said. “Many times there is a conflict of interest between the tournament and the players. We want different things.

“We are part of the same system, we cannot live without each other, but we are often in conflict situations.

“We want more money and when we talk about bonuses, they probably don't want to give us that much money. There are a lot of different levels of bonuses and you have to look into it. It's not that simple.

“Essentially, what Nick is saying is true. If you look at it as a whole, the pure percentage that players receive from revenue share is much lower than most other global sports, especially American sports.”