There is possibly no sport more conducive to betting than tennis. There are points, games, sets, aces, double faults, winners, percentages… The list of options for the bettor is almost infinite in the sport of racquet. Add to that the fact that there are dozens of games every day of the year.
According to several studies, Tennis is the second sport that moves the most money in bets behind soccer. Bookmakers know this and sponsor many events on the professional circuit. However, There is something that has always generated tension: while the tournaments can have betting houses as sponsors, the players are prohibited from doing so.
Y Novak Djokovic has opened the melon. Because although he is the number one in the world and the most successful tennis player in history – two weeks ago he won his 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open -, The Serbian has always been very concerned about the rights of the players. He was for many years in the ATP Player Council -a consultative body that exerts pressure so that its demands are heard- and since 2020 it has led a union -the PTPA- that threatens to change the status quo of tennis.
“There is one thing that is very illogical to me in this matter and that is that we have not moved from the site in the last 20 years. For the integrity of the sport, tennis players are not allowed to put betting house patches on our clothes when we play while tournaments are allowed to have bookmakers as main sponsors,” Djokovic said in a video shared on social networks by the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association).
“The players are in a helpless situation
The number one wants tennis players to also benefit from these sponsorships, let them carry advertising for betting houses. And if that is not possible, at least get a piece of the pie.
“The situation is totally unacceptable. Personally, I probably wouldn’t wear a bookie patch on my shirt sleeve, but 95% of gamblers would. “They would do it and I support it,” said the 37-year-old tennis player. “And if that is not allowed, what We would deserve 50% of what a tournament receives from sponsorship with the betting houses“.
“It is prohibited for players to wear any mention of tobacco companies or those associated with betting houses on their clothing.”
ATP regulations
Djokovic is aware that part of the money earned from tournaments through betting houses is saved directly for the ATP pension plan, a fund created in 1990 and which tennis players can access when they turn 50. But from his point of view that is not enough.: argues that the tennis and betting industry lines their pockets with bets and that the players receive practically nothing.
“Bookmakers Are Making Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, Maybe Billionsand many stakeholders in the tennis ecosystem are also benefiting through those deals. But tennis players get crumbs or almost nothing“Nole criticized.
“Players probably aren’t fully aware or perhaps aren’t pushing hard enough. so that there is a fair distribution. The players are giving much more than they receive. In reality they don’t receive anything and they give their names to all those websites. Billions of dollars are circulating weekly from tennis tournaments and players are in a helpless situation“, has added. “We cannot allow this to continue happening“.
According to ATP regulations, ATP 250 and ATP500 category tournaments may have bookmakers as main sponsors. In the Masters 1000 there can also be sponsors of this type, they must necessarily be providers of Fantasy games,
Meanwhile, the men’s circuit code specifies the prohibition for tennis players: “It is prohibited for players to wear any mention of tobacco companies or those associated with betting houses on their clothing.”. However, after Djokovic’s words and the pressure that the PTPA may exert, things may begin to change.
What is the PTPA, Djokovic’s union
The PTPA, a kind of tennis players’ union created in the middle of the pandemic but which has not begun to take flight until these last few months. Made up of tennis players from the men’s and women’s circuits, was born with the primary objective of improving the economic conditions of the players, especially those of those who are far from the main focuses.
Led by Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, the organization was founded in 2020, but without the support of important men like Federer, Nadal and Murray and with the logical rejection of the ATP, the project faltered in the first months of life. Little by little, hePTPA was gaining support and in 2022 it launched in search of investors. The response, led by American businessman Bill Ackman, was a purse of 26 million dollars.
With the accounts in the green, construction of the project began. They created Winners Alliance, a platform that will be dedicated to maximizing commercial opportunities for tennis players. Furthermore, the American lawyer Ahmad Nassarwho once led the NFL Players Association, took over as CEO of the PTPA in August 2022.
A few months later, this January, during the Australian Open, there was a meeting at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne in which the first PTPA executive committee. There are eight tennis players in total; four men, Djokovic, Pospisil, Hubert Hurkacz y John Isner; and four women, Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Zheng Saisai.
Nacho Encabo is a sports editor at Relevo, a specialist in tennis and the Olympic Games. Born in Madrid, he studied Journalism and Audiovisual Communication at the Rey Juan Carlos University and began as an intern in the sports section of El Mundo in 2011. Knowing German shortly after opened the doors of the dpa agency, where he worked as a special envoy to the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, the 2016 Euro Cup in France and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. In addition, adding Relay and the rest of his career, he has covered the four tennis Grand Slams, the Davis Cup , athletics world championships, Formula 1 Grand Prix and countless LaLiga and Champions League matches. He has also worked as a reporter at El Independiente and traveled to the Tokyo Olympic Games on the Spanish Olympic Committee team. …
2023-09-22 03:35:27
#tennis #players #crumbs #Relief
