Milos Raonic expresses disappointment over the French Open’s move to slash prize money


Milos Raonic expresses disappointment over the French Open’s move to slash prize money

Milos Raonic

Canadian tennis star, Milos Raonic has expressed his displeasure on the reduction of the prize money for the upcoming French Open.

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The French Tennis Federation cited the pandemic as a major driving factor behind the reduction of the prize money. In the 2020 edition too, there was a drop close to 11%. Going ahead into this year’s edition the prize money has been further reduced from 38 Million Euros to 34 Million Euros.

However, it must also be said that the organizers have reduced a major chunk of the money for the top-ranked players, in order to focus on the already struggling lower-ranked players.

Singles winner at RG will get 2.3 Million Euros

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

The total prize money in singles this year is down to 32.6 million Euros and the winner will walk away with a cheque of 2.3 million Euros. On the doubles front, champions will take home a cheque for just 580,000 Euros.

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The 30-year-old Raonic, expressed his disappointment on twitter, “Disappointed by the FFT disregarding the doubles prize money and cutting them out significantly. They just do however they want. With no regard.”

Raonic has not been spotted on the tour after the Miami Masters. He is yet to play any warm-up event on the clay this year. Given his ordinary record at Roland Garros, it is hard to see him making any impact in Paris in two weeks from now.

The French Open has been pushed back by a week, due to the rescheduling of various tournaments. It will start on May 30. Also, Roland Garros has received tentative guidance from the government of France that it can start with 35 percent of its usual capacity, up to 1,000 spectators per court.

The tournament also plans to have night sessions for the first time, but cannot start them during the first week because of the city’s 9 p.m. curfew. But the move to an 11 p.m. curfew during the second week, along with an exception given to the tournament, would potentially allow night sessions from the quarterfinals onwards.

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Also read: Rafael Nadal: Find out his Net Worth, Salary, Endorsements, Charities and more