Are doubles specialists paid too much? – Match Points excerpt
Match Points is a talk show about tennis, hosted by Josh Cohen for Tennis Majors. In this episode, Josh asks the panel how they feel tennis could get the most out of doubles.
Our Match Points panel today consists of former Wimbledon champion and world No 7 Marion Bartoli, ATP world No 225 Noah Rubin (founder of Behind the Racquet) and American journalist Ben Rothenberg. The guests joined Cohen to give their take on the state of doubles and whether or not significant changes should be made to the format.
Bartoli, whose controversial comments about doubles made headlines two weeks ago, clarified her stance further. She says doubles doesn’t need to be completely axed from the sport, but stands firm in her belief that doubles players are making too much money compared to their singles counterparts.
“First and foremost I don’t want to cut the doubles completely out,” she said. “Absolutely not. It’s part of the history of the game. It’s completely part of tennis for so many years. It’s part of the Grand Slams. It’s part of the Davis Cup, or the teams now competition because the Davis Cup has different formats, but it’s part of it. What I want to do is to decrease the prize money out of it because they just get too much money”
Bartoli says that doubles champions at events like Masters 1000 are compensated too well. She points out that doubles champions at Indian Wells and Miami are making more money than singles quarter-finalists at the same events.
“Per player [doubles champions] are making more money than someone reaching the quarter-final in singles,” Bartoli said. That is a hard fact. That is the truth. Someone making the quarter-final in Miami Masters 1000, any Masters 1000, is making less money than someone winning the doubles, per player.
