Marion Bartoli's radical solution: Less doubles tournaments, more money to singles

Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli has suggested that having less doubles tournaments on the ATP calendar could be one of the ways to help those players ranked outside the top-100 in the world. 

Ever since the ATP and WTA tours got suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, everyone across the tennis world has been urging the governing bodies to help the lower-ranked players and make a few changes so their life gets easier. 

When interviewed and asked by Tennis Majors what's the best solution to help those ranked outside the top-100, Bartoli said: "I know I'm not going to make myself friends but I think we have to say it: I don't understand all these doubles competitions all year round. I understand during Grand Slams and the Olympics because doubles is part of tennis history (but) I've been to some tournaments now with my player and I see now, these (doubles) players, they have crews, like six people around them. When I was a player, as a singles player, we couldn't afford to pay six people to travel with us full-time. They can afford to pay six people and they just play doubles!"

Marion Bartoli suggests some money should be diverted from doubles to singles 

Bartoli enjoyed a successful career in singles but she also claimed three WTA titles in doubles and also achieved a doubles career-high ranking of No. 15 in 2004. 

"Why don't you get some of that money to qualifiers, to someone who plays only Challengers? I just don't understand because in doubles, you just don't make the same effort as a singles player. You don't practice as much....they keep going, week in and week out, getting that money. I don't know if we have to stop doubles completely, but to get less money and give that money to qualification and others, that should be a solution," Bartoli said. 

Shortly after claiming her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2013, the now 35-year-old Bartoli decided to put an end to her professional career.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3eoGZlt