© Getty Images Sport – Mike Hewitt
Ons Jabeur, 29, fully agrees with Novak Djokovic that tennis must ensure more pro players are able to make a decent living out of tennis. Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, has been doing extremely well over the last few years but she dealt with lots of adversity and challenges early in her career.
Jabeur, who comes from Tunisia, still remembers those difficult moments and that’s why she feels for those players who are not earning very much and struggling financially. In recent years, Djokovic created the PTPA and one of his biggest goals is to ensure there is a bigger prize money for lower-ranked players.
“I personally am not here with PTPA sitting with you because I want more money for myself. That’s not the case. I’m fine for this life and many other lives. We all definitely want to see a change at the base level because the 150th player on the planet struggles and often has to travel without a coach.
People don’t realize how expensive this sport is,” Djokovic said at the US Open.
Jabeur agrees with Djokovic: The top-500 should be well paid
“If you know me & you know my personality, I really like to help players.
I truly love this sport. I believe the sport deserves much better. Like Novak said, we’re the third most watched sport in the world & barely a few players can make a living out of this. It doesn’t add up.. when you do the math, it’s unbelievable.
I see so many players that struggle like I struggled back in the days. For me, such a beautiful sport watched by a lot of people, there should be a lot more money in it. Money to enjoy the sport & not think about ‘How am I going to pay my coach? I need a physio with me..’ We pay mostly everything.
That’s okay & I believe it’s fine. I just feel like maybe the top 500 players should be well paid so they don’t have to worry about money or worry about anything else besides enjoying this sport,” Jabeur said, via The Tennis Letter.
Ons Jabeur says the top 500 players in the world should be able to make a living playing tennis:
“If you know me & you know my personality, I really like to help players.
I truly love this sport. I believe the sport deserves much better. Like Novak said, we’re the 3rd most… pic.twitter.com/Mz2KshOJtB — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 12, 2023
Meanwhile, Jabeur is competing this week at the San Diego Open.
