Player Discontent Growing About The US Open

Written by: Staff on 16th January 2013

Player Discontent Growing About The US Open

epa02887755 A fan rides an escalator up the side of Arthur Ashe Stadium on the first day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 29 August 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/PETER FOLEY |

The US Open is still more than seven months away and two full Grand Slam tournaments away but rumblings of discontent from the playing community can be heard in distant Melbourne as the issue of a proposed 15th day of competition and a Monday final doesn’t seem commensurate with the announcement total prize money would rise by $4 million for this year’s event.

United States Tennis Association chief executive Gordon Smith, explained that this year the US Open’s entire finances were compromised by the players’ demand to allow for a day’s rest between the men’s semi-finals and final, and appeasing CBS television for the effect that will have on the traditional Super Saturday.

As a result the USTA has been forced renegotiate its existing agreement with CBS, which runs through 2014. According to Smith, the tournament will lose approximately $10 million if the players have their way with the men’s semifinals switched to Friday, and the final remains scheduled for Sunday; weather permitting of course, and the last five years have seen rain force the tournament into a third week.

Smith calculates he cost of keeping the men’s semifinals on Saturday and scheduling the final on Monday would be a considerably less at a figure of around $1.5m. “I have great respect for the players,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s reasonable to say, ‘Increase your prize money by millions of dollars and take a $10 million hit to give us a day of rest.’ ”

Smith maintained a projected loss in profit of $10 million would have caused the USTA into announcing redundancies amongst the start, the cutting of numerous player development and grass root programs and swinging financial cuts for close to 100 small events and leagues.

“We’ve only committed to this Monday final for one year,” said Smith, adamant that there was no chance of the US Open replicating the French Open and starting main-draw competition a day early on an initial Sunday.

“We are in the midst of renegotiating our television rights agreements in this calendar year, and it is our preference moving forward to negotiate a rights deal that will, one, allow us to have a Sunday final and, two, will be a deal that will allow us to continue to increase prize money. That’s our perfect world.”

The Australian Open increased its prize money by an approximately similar sum of $4m for this year’s event and at last weekend’s pre-tournament players’ meeting both tournament director Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia chief executive Steve Wood were rewarded with a standing ovation by the competitors.

Feelings amongst the players towards the year’s concluding Grand Slam competition and nowhere near as magnanimous than they are for the first and ATP World Tour board member Justin Gimelstob was quoted in the New York Times as saying: “Even without the Monday final, it still would have been disappointing, that amount of money.”

In a bid to placate the players, Smith insisted the USTA was planning to increase singles prize money by a minimum of 75% in a five year period by 2017.He said: “Our point that we want to make is that we are addressing their concerns in a proactive and a substantial way, but we are the biggest tennis market in the world still.

“We need to make sure we promote the game in this country so that the game remains popular, people play it, people are fans, and people are interested in it.”

Gimelstob, believed to be the prime mover in initial plans to stage a players’ boycott of the ongoing Australian Open before Tennis Australia took heed and hiked up the prize fund, maintained there was every chance of another financial fight.

“I love the US Open, but if the USTA truly believes they can wait it out and hope they can weather the storm this year, there could be catastrophic consequences for both sides, and that is what I truly hope doesn’t happen,” said Gimelstob.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: American tennis news, Australian Open, Sports, Tennis, Tennis Australia, Tennis News, US Open