Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will earn nothing from their Olympics final today – a far cry from some of the prizes on offer in tennis’ Grand Slams. The duo meet again in a showpiece event a little under a month after their Wimbledon clash.
Djokovic was beaten by Alcaraz for the second year in a row in the final at the All England Club. The Serb has the chance to exact revenge after reaching the Olympics final, despite seeming to battle some fitness issues in Paris.
However, there will be no prize money on offer for either player at the French Open’s Roland Garros venue. That is because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) do not offer money to any athletes competing at the Games.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) – which organises the tennis events at the Olympics – also puts no prize money on offer. Athletes instead simply compete for the honour of becoming an Olympic medallist.
World Athletics announced in April that it was becoming the first governing body to offer athletes money. Medallists competing in events under the jurisdiction of World Athletics will therefore be paid for their success.
Earlier this year, tennis icon Martina Navratilova called for athletes in all sports to be paid for competing at the Games.
“The Olympics have always been the biggest sports event and the athletes were the only ones not making money,” the former world No 1 said at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
“Everybody was making money but the athletes. So I’m glad that’s changing because for some countries that’s a massive amount of money.
“For some of them it’s a drop in the bucket, but for some of them it’s a step in the right direction. Why shouldn’t they make money? Being a top athlete now is a full-time job. The days of amateurs have gone.”
Meanwhile, Djokovic is excited to have finally reached his first Olympics final at his fifth attempt.
“I have been waiting for this for almost 20 years,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “I’ve played four Olympic games, this is my fifth and I’ve never passed semi-finals.
“I lost three semi-finals in my first four Olympic games. I managed to overcome this big hurdle. I must be honest and say that I was thinking about all the semi-finals that I lost.”
