Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
This is from the bosses of IW: why Woz got more money than Djoko:
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Q. All of us are going to have to write today the woman's final, whoever wins wins $700,000. Then we're going to have to write that the men's winner win $611,000, and people are going to read that and say, What the hell is going on? Could you explain how that breakdown comes and why it's like that?
RAYMOND MOORE: Yeah. Well, you know, we argued vehemently about that with the ATP, because, you know, we have equal prize money, everything. We just didn't think it, you know, correct that the women's winner gets more than the men's winner. The total prize money is identical, but the WTA have a different percentage breakdown.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Their distribution is different.
RAYMOND MOORE: So we went to the ATP and asked them to change it, but they wouldn't.
Q. So the distribution is determined by the WTA and the ATP?
CHARLIE PASARELL: Yes. Here's the prize money: Four and a half for the women, four and a half for the men. WTA works out their distribution. ATP also works out the distribution. It's out of our control.
RAYMOND MOORE: So, for example, you know, the ATP, there's a percentage, and I don't know exactly what it was. In fact, at one time Charlie and I actually dictated that percentage when we were part of the ATP.
The percentages haven't changed that much, but there's the percentage for the winner, and it used to be 19% of the men's singles prize money would go to the winner. So it's that kind of formula that they have, and the ATP wouldn't change it.
Q. Doesn't that kind of put a tournament, because people don't understand that, they think the tournament is dividing up its pots?
CHARLIE PASARELL: Agreed.
Q. Puts the tournament in a bad light, doesn't it?
RAYMOND MOORE: Well, I don't think it puts the tournament in a bad light. It just shows where the power is. The power in politics on the men's side is with the players' council, and I would have thought that the top players would have complained, but they don't.
You know, they're in the locker room with the lower-ranked players and there is camaraderie, and top players make so much money. I mean, I'm not excusing it. I'm just trying to explain it. That's all.
The top players say, Yeah, fine, you know. $611,000 is enough for us.
CHARLIE PASARELL: The answer is we don't like it. We would prefer that it would be equal distribution.
Q. Why don't the WTA change theirs, drop theirs, instead of the ATP?
RAYMOND MOORE: It's the same thing. They wouldn't.
Q. It's a silly thing. It's so stupid when you're trying to project a unified tour or circuit and they keep on talking about equal prize money and all this sort of stuff, and while it might be equal, it might be a 50/50 split on the total prize money, the public doesn't understand that.
CHARLIE PASARELL: You're preaching to the choir.
Q. True?
RAYMOND MOORE: I mean, you have to talk to the ATP and WTA. We've done it till we were blue in the face. We lost that battle. Believe you me, we really complained about it. It was 2010 or 2009 when it first happened. It was like, you know, a dialogue with the deaf.
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=70127
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Q. All of us are going to have to write today the woman's final, whoever wins wins $700,000. Then we're going to have to write that the men's winner win $611,000, and people are going to read that and say, What the hell is going on? Could you explain how that breakdown comes and why it's like that?
RAYMOND MOORE: Yeah. Well, you know, we argued vehemently about that with the ATP, because, you know, we have equal prize money, everything. We just didn't think it, you know, correct that the women's winner gets more than the men's winner. The total prize money is identical, but the WTA have a different percentage breakdown.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Their distribution is different.
RAYMOND MOORE: So we went to the ATP and asked them to change it, but they wouldn't.
Q. So the distribution is determined by the WTA and the ATP?
CHARLIE PASARELL: Yes. Here's the prize money: Four and a half for the women, four and a half for the men. WTA works out their distribution. ATP also works out the distribution. It's out of our control.
RAYMOND MOORE: So, for example, you know, the ATP, there's a percentage, and I don't know exactly what it was. In fact, at one time Charlie and I actually dictated that percentage when we were part of the ATP.
The percentages haven't changed that much, but there's the percentage for the winner, and it used to be 19% of the men's singles prize money would go to the winner. So it's that kind of formula that they have, and the ATP wouldn't change it.
Q. Doesn't that kind of put a tournament, because people don't understand that, they think the tournament is dividing up its pots?
CHARLIE PASARELL: Agreed.
Q. Puts the tournament in a bad light, doesn't it?
RAYMOND MOORE: Well, I don't think it puts the tournament in a bad light. It just shows where the power is. The power in politics on the men's side is with the players' council, and I would have thought that the top players would have complained, but they don't.
You know, they're in the locker room with the lower-ranked players and there is camaraderie, and top players make so much money. I mean, I'm not excusing it. I'm just trying to explain it. That's all.
The top players say, Yeah, fine, you know. $611,000 is enough for us.
CHARLIE PASARELL: The answer is we don't like it. We would prefer that it would be equal distribution.
Q. Why don't the WTA change theirs, drop theirs, instead of the ATP?
RAYMOND MOORE: It's the same thing. They wouldn't.
Q. It's a silly thing. It's so stupid when you're trying to project a unified tour or circuit and they keep on talking about equal prize money and all this sort of stuff, and while it might be equal, it might be a 50/50 split on the total prize money, the public doesn't understand that.
CHARLIE PASARELL: You're preaching to the choir.
Q. True?
RAYMOND MOORE: I mean, you have to talk to the ATP and WTA. We've done it till we were blue in the face. We lost that battle. Believe you me, we really complained about it. It was 2010 or 2009 when it first happened. It was like, you know, a dialogue with the deaf.
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=70127
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