World No.3 Dominic Thiem attracted a lot of criticism from the tennis fraternity after his controversial statements on the lower-ranked players as he refused to contribute for the Player Relief Fund. Noah Rubin, who is always vocal about various issues plaguing tennis, also criticized Thiem for his harsh comments.
Thiem opined that many lower-ranked players are not worthy of help as they can be quite unprofessional. Hence, he wants to help those in need at his discretion.
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“We have to stop doing that” – Noah Rubin
Rubin, on the other hand, suggested that it is unfair to the lower-ranked players. He insisted that while Thiem is entitled to his opinions, he shouldn’t have brought up the idea that some players are unprofessional and hence don’t deserve any money.
“The out of line starts when you start degrading tennis players that are 500 in the world. We’re not all gifted with his talent to be No.4 in the world,” Rubin told Tennis Majors.
“So to single them out to say they don’t deserve any money – it’s okay if it’s not from him – but to bring up this idea, it’s this full topic we deal with in tennis, which, we just beat the crap out of each other in the world of tennis. I think we have to stop doing that,” he added.
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Moreover, Noah also echoed the Reilly Opelka‘s opinion and criticized the ATP for asking the players to help their fellow professionals rather than doing it themslelves.
“I think it is embarrassing for players to be helping players. There’s no other sport that actually does that,” he concluded.
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Read More: “I Didn’t Like That Dominic Thiem’s Statement” – Denis Istomin
The lower-ranked tennis players solely depend on tournament earnings to make a living. Consequently, these players are struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus shut down. We hope the tennis governing bodies find a solution for these players to steer through the pandemic and also increase prize money distribution among these players.