Former British No. 1 and 1997 US Open runner-up Greg Rusedski has told top stars to give up their prize money and stop complaining about finances.
Many of tennis’ elite names have banded together to call for an increase in the share of tournament revenue they receive.
But Rusedski is unhappy with their actions and told Off Court that they should donate some of their earnings to those lower down in the rankings.
“I find it hard when players are complaining about prize money at the very top,” he said.
“If they’re complaining about prize money at the very top, then find a way to donate some of your prize money to that 150-300 group.
“Or find a way to work with the ATP and the ITF, who’ve set up that new group as well with the player councils for all the Slams to get more money into that range because at the very top of the game.
“If you’re in the top 100 in the world, you’re making a very good living these days and you can’t compare individual sports to team sports.
“There’s players who barely won matches these days, eight or nine matches this year and they lose 15 or 20 matches.
“But this talk of a boycott of Grand Slams… it was never going to happen. A load of nonsense.
“$32,000 for first round qualifying? I think that’s more than I made in my opening match in my last ever US Open!
“First round prize money, $140,000, winner gets $5.5 million. Wow, this is some big prize money.
“This generation is very fortunate, they always want more, but I think it’s for the lesser players ranked between 150 and 300 that deserve more and that’s the problem they’re trying to sort out.”