Rafael Nadal opens up on the ‘Players Union’

Rafael Nadal was in high spirits after his second-round win against Mayer, after having suffered a minor scare in the 3rd set, when Mayer was really turning up the heat.

Nadal though, came out of the encounter without having dropped a set, and looked in control all through.

In the post match presser, Nadal was questioned about him walking out of the ATP Board a few years back and what he thought about the apparent ‘players union’ that Djokovic is trying to setup in an attempt to increase financial incentives for players on the tour.

“I don’t know 100 per cent about what’s going on or not, but at some point, it’s good that the players speak between each other about what we want or what we don’t want.” Nadal said.

Also Read: Novak Djokovic slams media over claims he called for Australian Open boycott

“It’s not about union or no union. Forget about this. I believe that tennis has improved a lot for lower-ranked players in the last couple of years. The real thing is, if we can at some point help the players that need more help, that will be fantastic.” he added.

Journalists tried bringing in the comparison with football where the wages are far higher than what they are in Tennis, but Nadal refused to be drawn into the comparison.

“The market is the market. Probably our sport is more global than football, but at the same time football is much bigger than tennis in terms of money, in terms of millions of fans.” the World Number one said.

Nadal felt that the sport’s revenues could be divided in a better way, so as to create more jobs and help the lower ranked players sustain their career.

“One sport is bigger when not only the top guys win a lot of money. It’s bigger when a sport creates a lot of jobs. If there are 300 people living from tennis it is better than if there are only 100.” Nadal concluded.

Nadal will face Dzumhur in the third round and is confident of his chances, having played him once at Miami before.