Andrey Rublev isn’t too perturbed about French Open’s unilateral call to postpone the tournament to September 20 despite its clash with a few other competitions over those two weeks.
The French Open officials had ostensibly taken no other organisation into confidence, including the Laver Cup organisers before opting to change the dates of the year’s only clay court Grand Slam. Scheduled to be played in the third week of May earlier, it will now be held in September, just a week after the end of the US Open.
And that hadn’t gone down too well with the ATP, WTA and other Grand Slam events either.
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However, Russia’s Rublev sees no problems in the rescheduling, indicating it is a necessary evil.
Speaking to Russian television channel Match TV, Rublev said while the initial announcement did surprise a few, in the end the right decision was made. He attributed this to the potential loss of salaries for tennis players who rely on tournament prize money for their sustenance as opposed to some of the team games like football.
He said:
“Unlike team sports, tennis players don’t have a monthly salary and we only earn prize money based on our results at tournaments. If we don’t play, we don’t earn anything.”
Rublev said the decision to reschedule, in the end, was good news for players because it offered a sizable prize money. For instance, a singles player reaching the third round at the French Open will receive a pay cheque of €130,000, as compared to an ATP 250 winner who would typically receive something similar.
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