Tennis: Kafelnikov urges players not to strike
Kafelnikov caused a storm in 2001 when he said that male players’ prize-money was ‘ridiculous’.
MELBOURNE:
Two-time Grand Slam champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov has urged players not to strike over pay, 11 years after his complaints about prize-money at the Australian Open.
The 37-year-old Russian, his country’s first world number one and the 1999 champion, said that tennis fans would end up as the biggest losers from any potential strikes.
Kafelnikov caused a storm in 2001 when he said that male players’ prize-money was ‘ridiculous’ compared to the pots other athletes were earning. He had amassed about $18 million in prize-money when he made the comments and was slammed by Andre Agassi, who suggested he should use his earnings from the tournament to ‘go buy some perspective’.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2012.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov has urged players not to strike over pay, 11 years after his complaints about prize-money at the Australian Open.
The 37-year-old Russian, his country’s first world number one and the 1999 champion, said that tennis fans would end up as the biggest losers from any potential strikes.
Kafelnikov caused a storm in 2001 when he said that male players’ prize-money was ‘ridiculous’ compared to the pots other athletes were earning. He had amassed about $18 million in prize-money when he made the comments and was slammed by Andre Agassi, who suggested he should use his earnings from the tournament to ‘go buy some perspective’.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2012.