Illya Marchenko reacts to Dominic Thiem's lower-ranked players claim

Ukrainian world No. 200 IIlya Marchenko says the system needs to be fixed and tennis wouldn't exist without lower-ranked players. 

Over the weekend, world No. 3 Dominic Thiem drew lots of attention to himself after admitting he wasn't particularly interested in donating $30,000 to player relief fund. 

The Austrian revealed his true feelings as he thinks most lower-ranked players just aren't fighting enough to succeed.

Dominic Thiem on a relief fund for lower-ranked players: "None of the lower-ranked players have to fight for their lives. I've seen players on the ITF-Tour who don't commit to the sport 100 %. Many of them are quite unprofessional. I don't see, why I should give them money."

— Lukas Zahrer (@ZahrerLukas) April 26, 2020

"I'd rather donate to people & institutions, who really need it. There is no profession in the world, where you are guaranteed success and high income at the start of your career. None of the top players took anything for granted. We all had to fight our way up the rankings."

— Lukas Zahrer (@ZahrerLukas) April 26, 2020

Marchenko, a former world No. 59, has earned $2,035,339 in his career. 

Anyway, I think we should fix the system not this sort of charity thing. Players should get what they deserve. And we deserve much more than we are getting right now. Yes, with lower ranked players you have no sponsors and spectators, but without them tennis would not exist.

— Illya Marchenko (@imarchello) April 27, 2020

Australian world No. 43 John Millman agreed with Marchenko and came to the defense of lower-ranked players.

Agreed. Find solutions to distribute wealth so more players eat a piece of pie. Wider distribution of p’money, sell title sponsor for challenger and future tour (like golf Korn Ferry Tour) and give players a piece of money for any match of theirs that is made available to bet on. https://t.co/vbIPngAumE

— John Millman (@johnhmillman) April 27, 2020

Players are facing the same problems now during a pandemic as the ones they face week to week playing tennis. They are barely scraping by now like they barely scrape through when they travel on the tour. That’s the problem. This issue has been around long before the virus.

— John Millman (@johnhmillman) April 27, 2020

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Yf5EUQ