“Players are playing for the greater good of the sport,” Reilly Opelka speaks out on the drastic prize money reduction and the extravagant cost of tickets for Miami Open 2021

“Players are playing for the greater good of the sport,” Reilly Opelka speaks out on the drastic prize money reduction and the extravagant cost of tickets for Miami Open 2021

Reilly Opelka

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Reilly Opelka, the tall American tennis player has never shied away from expressing his opinion. He sided with Novak Djokovic when he co-founded the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) last year. This time, he has spoken on the topic regarding the drastic prize money reduction and the expensive tickets for entry into the stadiums.

One tennis fan posted a tweet stating that the tickets for the Miami Open 2021 were expensive and as a result, she and her husband decided to skip the event. “Every year, my husband and I attend the US Open, Indian Wells, and the Miami Open. We buy full session tickets because we need to travel to the events. This year, the Miami tickets are unaffordable. They start at $5150 per ticket. In 2019, we paid $3K for 2 tix,” a fan named Loretta Faturos had written on Twitter.

Reilly Opelka expressed his grief by saying that the integrity of the sport was getting compromised if die-hard fans like her cannot enter the stadium due to expensive tickets. He also spoke on the issue of the reduced prize money stating that the players were competing for the greater good of the sport.

“This is sad.. players are certainly not playing for money at this point. We are playing for the greater good of the sport. If there are die hard tennis fans that want to come and are willing to pay 3k to watch tennis but cant afford it. There’s something wrong,” Opelka tweeted.

Fans in huge disbelief about ticket pricing after Opelka’s tweet

https://twitter.com/ReillyOpelka/status/1372558374991245319

Tennis fans were in disbelief after Opelka tweeted a fan’s message regarding the costly tickets for the Miami Open. One user pointed to the fact that tickets for US Open qualifiers were available for free a couple of years ago and now spectators have to pay a huge sum for entry into the stadiums.

One fan even pointed out that the Wimbledon Final tickets were cheaper as compared to the Miami Open ones.

Despite all the controversy surrounding the reduced prize money and the extravagant ticket pricing, Miami Open 2021 qualifying rounds kicks off from Monday, with the women’s main draw slated to commence from Tuesday. More importantly, this is the first Masters level tournament held this year.

Also Read: ATP Rankings Update: Alexander Zverev to replace Roger Federer at World number Six after Miami Open 2021