Andy Murray slams ‘hypocritical’ players for competing in exhibitions
Andy Murray says some colleagues may be ‘hypocritical’ by giving example of playing tournaments in off-season while complaining about long tennis schedules suggested that there is. p>
Former world No. 1 Murray is currently in Dubai for his second ATP tournament in the Middle East after ending his losing streak at six in Doha last week.
error 404
And in the Middle East, Murray was asked what he would change about the tennis season and replied, “I think the off-season should be longer too.”
The 36-year-old continued, “I don’t know if I would want restrictions on exhibitions. I just think that sometimes the players are a little bit hypocritical [over] the tennis schedule, and it’s like the tennis schedule is too long, but then players are flying all over the world in the off-season to play exhibitions, and that’s their choice.
“But it just seems hypocritical because they don’t have to play the exhibitions. And they don’t have to play every tournament on the ATP tour; they can decide not to come here [to Dubai] or they don’t have to play Indian Wells. Yes, that might harm their ranking, but they can choose to miss those events. So yeah, I would probably like to see a longer off-season.”
Exhibitions are now held not only in the off-season but also during the season, with Patrick Mouratoglou’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown and the Six Kings Slam taking place in Saudi Arabia.
The three-time major winner also spoke about how lower-ranked players can suffer due to exhibitions, with the events generally wanting the best in the world.
“It’s the top players in the world that are able to play exhibitions, where they make lots of money, but the rest of the players they don’t have that opportunity and who should you feel more,” explained the world No.67. “Well, the players that are at the top of the game make loads of money from prize money, commercial sponsorships, appearance fees and everything, and exhibitions.
“It is the slightly lower-ranked players that obviously don’t get those opportunities. So for them, they want more tournaments, because it’s a chance for them to earn more money. So there has to be a bit of a balance to that.”
Murray will turn his attention back to his on-court action today as he faces 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Get ready for some mystery with @andy_murray! ???? Can he guess what’s in the box? ????#DDFTennis @atptour pic.twitter.com/htMrpMaL9A
– Dubai Tennis Champions (@DDFTennis) 25. February 2024
In the baseline…
Although it is difficult to understand Andy Murray’s perspective in this scenario, British people often express their views on inequality and a general desire for fairer tools and societies. . Although he didn’t name specifics, it would be interesting to see if Murray has specific people in mind who he deems “hypocritical.” But it’s clear that exhibition events bring in a lot of money, so it’s understandable why players would want to take part in it, but then maybe we shouldn’t complain about the official tennis season
Read more – Tennis on TV next week: How to watch ATP Dubai, Acapulco and more!
