“Chance for them to earn more money,” Andy Murray breaks silence on Patrick Mouratoglou’s UTS and the Six King’s Slam featuring Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and others

Andy Murray also took a jibe at hypocrites.

“Chance for them to earn more money,” Andy Murray breaks silence on Patrick Mouratoglou’s UTS and the Six King’s Slam featuring Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and others

Andy Murray (Via: Imago)

British tennis ace Andy Murray is not too pleased about the exhibition events popping up in the middle of the season. The 36-year-old, who was once part of the Big Four on the ATP tour, has voiced his opinion on exhibition events taking over and only top players benefiting from them. 

As it was recently announced that Six Kings Slam, an exhibition event, will be hosted in Saudi Arabia featuring Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, and Daniil Medvedev, Murray expressed his concerns. 

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Murray made it clear that he has not only issues with exhibition events popping up in the midst of the season, but he is also worried about the fact that such events benefit players who are already established. 

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It's the top players in the world that are able to play exhibitions, where they make lots of money, but the rest of the players they don't have that opportunity and who should you feel more … Well, the players that are at the top of the game make loads of money from prize money, commercial sponsorships, appearance fees and everything, and exhibitions.
Andy Murray said to The National.

The Briton ace said that it is the lower-ranked players who need more tournaments and not the top players who already earn a massive amount. 

It is the slightly lower-ranked players that obviously don't get those opportunities. So for them, they want more tournaments, because it's a chance for them to earn more money. So there has to be a bit of a balance to that.
Murray further stated.

Andy Murray points out hypocrites while demanding for better schedule

Andy Murray also talked about the cramped schedule and advocated for a longer off-season. However, the Briton tennis ace also took a veiled jibe at hypocrites who express concerns over the cramped schedule but go on to play exhibition events in the off-season.

Andy Murray
Andy Murray (Image via: Imago)

Murray said that while he is all in for a longer off-season, players should also be mindful of their schedule. The 36-year-old, who has three singles Grand Slam titles to his credit, said that the tour gives players the option to pick and choose tournaments, and they must be selective about that to avoid burnout.

I think there should be a longer off-season as well. I don't know if I would want restrictions on exhibitions. I just think that sometimes the players are a little bit hypocritical [over] the tennis schedule, and it’s like the tennis schedule is too long, but then players are flying all over the world in the off-season to play exhibitions, and that's their choice.
Andy Murray stated.

Notably, apart from the newly announced Six Kings Slam, which is to be held in October, Patrick Mouratoglou‘s UTS is also held during the season, which creates problems for the players. 

But it just seems hypocritical because they don't have to play the exhibitions. And they don't have to play every tournament on the ATP tour; they can decide not to come here [to Dubai] or they don't have to play Indian Wells.
The Briton added.

However, there has been no directive about the schedule of exhibition events from the tennis associations yet.

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