Novak Djokovic Shows Unwavering Support to Brother Nick Kyrgios’ Hot Take on Tennis Players’ Prize Money Debate

In sports, the prize money debate has been an age-old issue. Be it gender-based pay gaps or uneven distribution of prize money at events, we have seen it all. Tennis is no different, as it is one of the leading sports to face prize money issues. While many American sports like football and basketball give out a handsome sum to the players, tennis lags far behind in this matter. Moreover, only a few players in tennis are able to make good money out of the sport while the others even struggle to cope with the traveling and stay expenses while playing in different tournaments across the globe. As a result, after Nick Kyrgios called out this glaring issue, Novak Djokovic was quick to back his friend.

Earlier this week, Kyrgios teamed up with Djokovic to play doubles at Brisbane International. Although they gave a good account of themselves, the duo went down fighting in the pre-quarterfinals. Subsequently, Kyrgios addressed the problem of the prize money in tennis being far less than in other sports. Similarly, Djokovic seconded Kyrgios’ thoughts and gave his take on the matter.

During an interview at Brisbane International, Djokovic said, “We have a problem in the very – how can I say – structure of the ATP is that as players we only have the 50% of that organization. There’s always – not always but a lot of times there was conflict of interest between tournaments and players. We wanted different thing.”

Further, he went on to add, “In essence what Nick was talking about is true. If you see it from a kind of general overview of just the pure percentage that players are getting from the revenue share, is way lower than most of the other global sports, American sports particularly.”

Meanwhile, Kyrgios was very blunt in his criticism of the poor share received by the players as far as prize money was concerned. He said, “The tour is ridiculous compared to any other sport. It’s absurd, really, the amount of travel we do, considering we don’t even get paid what we are supposed to get paid, as well, which is a joke. It’s a tough sport, especially if you’re from Australia you don’t see your family and friends for six, seven, eight months.”

The prize money debate kept aside, Djokovic is off to a winning start this year. He is into the Brisbane International quarterfinals and got candid while achieving a big honor.

Novak Djokovic defeats Gael Monfils yet again

While the Serb has dominated his opponents over the years, his battles against Gael Monfils stand apart from the rest. In his illustrious career, the Serb is yet to lose against Monfils, taking his head-to-head record to 20-0, something which Monfils would be wary of.

After defeating Monfils, Djokovic said, “Two great competitors for a long time and in other words, two veterans of this sport (smiles). We’ve been playing for many years. I know Gael since I was 15, he was 16. We played quite a few matches in junior level, Tier 1 professional circuit and you know, I’ve had a good score against him over the years, but we’ve had some incredible battles on different surfaces. He’s one of the best, if not the best, athletes in our sport that I’ve seen over the years.”

After missing out on a Grand Slam title last season, Djokovic would be eying the 2025 Australian Open trophy. However, he’ll have to get back to his best if he has to win the Grand Slam title Down Under.