Casper Ruud criticizes ‘unfair’ percentage of revenue given as prize money to players from Grand Slam events

Casper Ruud said tennis players don't earn enough prize money from the revenue the Grand Slam events generate.

Casper Ruud criticizes ‘unfair’ percentage of revenue given as prize money to players from Grand Slam events

Casper Ruud (Image via X/ATP)

First, the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) sparked massive controversy by suing the ATP, WTA, ITF, and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). And now, the top 20 Men’s and Women’s players have approached the Grand Slam tournaments to demand more prize money.

The players want to have a meeting to discuss how they could get more percentage of the revenue generated by the Grand Slam events as they feel they deserve to earn more. Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng said that more prize money will especially benefit the lower-ranked players. Casper Ruud, ranked No.6, thinks it’s unfair for the players to receive only a small percentage of the revenue.

As a player, I don’t think it’s fair. If you compare it to other major sports the NFL, MLB, NBA- they’re closer to 50%. 50–50, I don’t think it’ll ever happen. But if we can get closer. Every percentage point can help. In recent years, the Grand Slams have decided to start the tournament a day earlier. Most organizers make these kinds of decisions without even talking to the players or consulting them.

Casper Ruud told AFP

Players took this drastic step about two weeks after the PTPA’s class-action lawsuit. Along with the players union, 12 current and former players were listed as plaintiffs, including Nick Kyrgios and Reilly Opelka. Novak Djokovic, who founded the PTPA along with Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, didn’t sign his name as he agreed and disagreed with certain things mentioned in the lawsuit.

Casper Ruud praises Jakub Mensik after his Miami Open win

Jakub Mensik etched his name on record books when he beat Novak Djokovic to claim his career’s first ATP title at the Miami Open. Mensik became the second youngest player to win the title in Florida after Carlos Alcaraz, who lifted it at the age of 18 in 2022.

Jakub Mensik 3
Jakub Mensik (Image via Tennis Channel)

The 19-year-old also became the first Czech player to win a Masters 1000 title since Tomas Berdych (2005 Paris Masters). Casper Ruud, when asked to comment on the Czech ace ahead of the Bastide Medical UTS Nimes, said he doesn’t see “many holes in his game“.

On an off day, maybe he makes some errors, but I haven’t seen him too much, he’s got incredible potential and he’s shown it already, beating a lot of good players. This run in Miami was incredible, beating [Taylor] Fritz in the semis and Novak back-to-back was incredible, so he’s going to be dangerous for many years to come and he’s still so young.

Casper Ruud said (via Tennis Majors)

The Norwegian has met Mensik once on the tour. They locked horns in the second round of this year’s Australian Open which Mensik had won in four sets.

Casper Ruud will meet Alexei Popyrin at the Bastide Medical UTS Nimes

Casper Ruud, nicknamed ‘The Ice Man’ will be playing against Alexei ‘The Sniper’ Popyrin to kick start his campaign at the Bastide Medical UTS Nimes. Popyrin replaced Holger ‘The Viking’ Rune as the Dane withdrew from the tournament due to a knee injury.

Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

Last year on the clay swing in the ATP Tour, the 26-year-old was defeated in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters by Stefanos Tsitsipas. He reached back-to-back finals as he also progressed to the Barcelona Open summit clash where he beat the Greek to claim the title.

After reaching the Madrid Open fourth round, Ruud was knocked out of his first match in Rome but he went on to clinch the Geneva Open by beating Tomas Machac. The two-time French Open finalist suffered a four-set defeat to current World No.2 Alexander Zverev in the Roland Garros semifinal and got eliminated from his first match of the Swedish Open.