Nothing will come of today’s Olympic final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz—a far cry from some of the prizes at tennis’ Grand Slams. A little less than a month after their Wimbledon altercation, the two reunite in a highlight event.
At the All England Club, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in the championship match for the second consecutive year. Even though he appeared to be having some fitness problems in Paris, the Serb has the opportunity to extract retribution after making it to the Olympics final.
Nevertheless, neither player will be eligible for any prize money at Roland Garros, home of the French Open. This is due to the fact that no athlete competing in the Games receives financial assistance from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) – which oversees the tennis events at the Olympics – likewise puts no prize money on offer. Athletes instead merely compete for the glory of being an Olympic medallist.
World Athletics announced in April that it was becoming the first governing body to award athletes money. Medalists competing in events under the authority of World Athletics will therefore be paid for their success.
Earlier this year, tennis star Martina Navratilova urged for participants in all sports to be rewarded 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 stated at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
“Everybody was making money but the athletes. So I’m delighted that’s changing because for some countries, that’s a big 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.”
