Due to the pandemic, the tennis bag in Dubai has lost a third of what it generated last year. The total amount in prizes for 2021, adding the ATP 500 men’s tournament and the WTA 1000 women’s tournament, is $ 3,733,295, which means a reduction of 31.36% with respect to the 2020 prizes, which amounted to 5,438,510.
Separately, the reduction percentage is similar: the total purse for the 2021 ATP tournament is $ 1,897,805, which is 31.1% less than in 2020; for the WTA tournament, the purse is 1,835,490, which is 30.57% less than the previous year.
These percentages are increased in terms of the prizes of the winners. The individual champion of the Dubai men’s tournament (which is still in the first round phase) will win $ 149,490, which is a 73.57% drop compared to the 2020 prize, which was 565,705.
The Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza, champion of the individual women’s tournament in Dubai in 2021, pocketed $ 221,500, which means a drop of 68.2% compared to what the Romanian Simona Halep won in 2020: $ 696,860.
The Arab city of Dubai has hosted top ATP tennis since 1991. The largest increase in the individual prize from one year to the next occurred in 2009, when the champion, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, won 27.7% more than the American Andy Roddick in 2008 The men’s tournament had maintained the increase in its prizes until 2021.
The women’s tournament was played in Dubai for the first time in 2001. Its biggest increase from year to year was in 2007, when Belgian Justine Henin won $ 231,080, 45.3% more than what she won in 2006. In this branch, The biggest drop in prize from one year to the next was in 2019, down 20.1% from 2018, yet that figure was exceeded by 68.2% in 2021.
“ATP is a broken system. Players and tournaments, as ‘partners’, must work together, but 60% discount (total) and 80% of champions in events that have the recently approved television, data, sponsorship and game revenue intact, do not It is an association at all, “said US tennis player John Isner on Twitter after learning of the 60% drop in the stock market at the Miami Open 2021.
The Rotterdam Open (Netherlands), held between February and March this year, also suffered a 51.31% drop in the prize pool compared to 2020, while Australian Open champions Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka received 33.25% less in prizes than 2020 winners.
The top men’s winners of the Dubai Open are Roger Federer (8) and Djokovic himself (5), while in the women’s branch they are Justine Henin (4) and Venus Williams (3).
It has been characterized as a highly prestigious tournament that invites the best in the world, although with the pandemic situation, Federer and the Spanish Rafael Nadal declined the invitation to participate in the men’s tournament, while Victoria Azarenka, Ashleigh Barty, Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin withdrew from the women’s tournament.
Therefore, the 2021 edition is starred in the men’s branch by the Austrian Dominic Thiem (ranking # 4 of the ATP), the Russian Andrey Rublev (# 8) and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (# 11), while on the women’s side, by the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (ranked # 5 in the WTA), the Czech Karolina Pliskova (# 6) and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (# 8).
Tennis will conclude in Dubai on March 20 with the men’s individual final. The women’s final took place on March 14 with the triumph of the Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza, causing a reaction of dissatisfaction due to the reduction of the bag:
“Now, it sure comes to mind that you know you have less motivation in some tournaments because the prize is much lower. So that sure plays a small role in motivation, in my opinion. Hopefully we can improve step by step and return to where we were before ”, said the Ukrainian Svitolina at a press conference in Dubai.
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