"Prize money has to change tremendously" says tennis pro Rubin

ATP tennis professional Noah Rubin believes the distribution of prize money and remuneration structure in tennis needs to change dramatically. 

The topic of prize money has always been something actively discusses on the tennis tour on both sides of the sports. It has become an even bigger topic since the pandemic took over the world effectively cutting it by a lot. Many players didn't like it and former world number 125 Noah Rubin said this:

“Let’s make it simple, if we are going to keep everything the same and we’re not making any more money I think it has to change tremendously. I think it’s a great idea, and I am not the first person to come up with this idea, for prize money to be a bonus, it should not be the only thing that is coming into somebody’s paycheque."

Rubin further continued:

“There should be a base salary based on ATP ranking position at the beginning of the year and then the prize money is small dividends on top of that. It shouldn’t be this whole thing which the US Open brag about the whole time. They love being in the NY times saying ‘hey we have a 4 million dollar champion prize money cheque, how amazing is that compared to other sports. Look at what we are giving for two weeks of tennis’.

Rubin also spoke about distribution among players by saying:

“With that being said, the distribution has to change because the guy who is winning the US Open is okay financially, most likely a top 10 player making 10 to 15 million dollars with sponsorship. If you take a million dollars away from the winner and distribute that to the guys who are 100 to 250 first-round qualifiers, then instead of making 10 or 15 thousand dollars they are making say 25 or 30. That’s a game-changer."