The revamped World Tennis Tour made the sport "more corrupt" and left marginal players bubbling



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TThis week, artists such as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are thrilled by a crowd of spectators in Miami, Hard Rock Stadium, where a 13,800-seat field was built on trellis ground as part of a investment of $ 72 million. .

And yet, when you look beyond the velvet rope, players who have failed to make the Miami Open Cup are in turmoil. As part of a radical restructuring of the tennis pyramid, all the points they had won in the smaller tournaments were wiped from their record at the end of last season, leaving thousands of wannabes with nothing to show during 12 months of turmoil around the strings of the world tour: Egypt, Bulgaria, Nigeria.

Then, in January, the International Tennis Federation unveiled a new system – the World Tennis Tour – with the supposed goal of improving the lives of future professionals. Up to now, implementation has been chaotic, prompting a Canadian player named Maria Patrascu to launch a petition entitled "The ITF's Change the Rules", which now has nearly 15,000 signatures. The tennis court is collectively puzzled by the attitude of an organization claiming to defend its interests. They are also stifled by an economic model that distributes 50% of cash prizes to 1% of players.

"I think the change was necessary," said Samm Butler, a 24-year-old Briton, who said The telegraph that his most recent $ 25,000 event in Glasgow three weeks ago would also be the last. "It has not happened for so many years. But I'm not sure that they [the ITF] hit the nail on the head. Participation has dropped. The number of tournaments has decreased. The chances for the players are no longer the same.

"In all the preparation, no one had any idea what was going to happen," said Butler, who reached a top of the ATP 815 rankings in December, then returned to zero a week later. . "Throughout 2018, we talked about big changes, but the information was not transmitted. For the players of my level, it was as if there was no real respect. "

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