Novak Djokovic agrees with Nick Kyrgios and admits that the ATP Tour ‘has a problem’

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Novak Djokovic made his return to tennis at the Brisbane International this week.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion is back on the ATP Tour and is already making headlines.

Djokovic played doubles with Nick Kyrgios this week, as the blockbuster pairing fell in the second round of the Brisbane International.

In singles, Djokovic reached the quarter-finals, where he will play against America’s Reilly Opelka for a place in the last four.

The tournament is the Serb’s first since Shanghai, last October, with Djokovic withdrawing from the ATP Finals and Paris Masters at the end of 2024.

Ahead of his next match at the Brisbane International, Djokovic gave his thoughts on an issue that his doubles partner Kyrgios spoke about earlier in the week.

Novak Djokovic agrees with Nick Kyrgios that the ATP Tour has a real ‘problem’ with prize money

Speaking following his last-16 win in Brisbane, Djokovic expressed his thoughts on the prize money players earn on the ATP Tour.

“The pie split between the governing bodies in major sports, all major American sports, like NFL, NBA, baseball, NHL, is 50% maybe more, some less, but around 50%,” he said.

“Ours is way lower than that, it is true.

“Obviously it’s quite a different sport because it’s international, played globally, we are under different rules and regulations of different countries and legislations, taxes, et cetera, et cetera.

“Each tournament is independently governing their own prize money split, then you have ATP, WTA, then obviously Grand Slams that are separate entities that can do whatever they like.

“It’s quite fragmented from that point of view, it’s not easy to get everybody in the same room and say, Okay, let’s agree on a certain percentage.

“The revenue share is quite different in Grand Slams and a 250 event, for example, which is quite different than the major American sports where it’s all under USA law and legislation, it’s different.”

Djokovic has been a member of several unions and councils associated with the sport, where he has seen first-hand the issues the sport is facing.

“I’ve been president of players council for quite a few years, I’ve been in the council almost 10 years, I know exactly how the system works,” he said.

“At the end of the day unfortunately players don’t really make a decision on the big, how can I say, topics.

“We have a problem in the very structure of the ATP is that as players we only have 50% of that organization.

“There’s always, not always but a lot of times there was a conflict of interest between tournaments and players, we wanted different things.”

Djokovic went on to agree with Kyrgios that the revenue share in tennis is much lower than in other sports.

“In essence what Nick [Kyrgios] was talking about is true,” he said.

“If you see it from a kind of general overview of just the pure percentage that players are getting from the revenue share, is way lower than most of the other global sports, American sports particularly.

“The fact is that that’s true, what he’s saying.”

What did Nick Kyrgios say about prize money on the ATP Tour?

Kyrgios was another to make his tennis return this week, having not competed since the Stuttgart Open back in 2023.

Speaking following his exit from the tournament, Kyrgios gave his thoughts on tennis’ prize money.

“The tour is ridiculous compared to any other sport,” he said.

“It’s absurd, really, the amount of travel we do, considering we don’t even get paid what we are supposed to get paid, as well, which is a joke.”

Djokovic is widely considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time, but how do his career earnings match up to those in other sports?

Despite winning 24 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic has earned less than half of what the highest-earning players in MLB, NBA, and football have.

Data that perhaps suggests Djokovic and Kyrgios may well have a point, and that the revenue split should be looked at.

However, while Djokovic would no doubt love to add $100 million or so to his bank account, he has spent a lot of time advocating for the split in favor of the lower-ranked players on tour.

Speaking for the Professional Tennis Players Association, Djokovic revealed how many players earn a living in the sport.

“The amount of players that live from this sport that is the third most global sport, is around 400,” he said.

“We’re talking about men, women singles, men, women doubles, mixed doubles, so all the professional players around the world, you have less than 500 players that live from this sport.

“Probably, let’s say from 250th, 300th to 500th player, they probably can’t even afford to have a physio or fitness coach, or some of them even a tennis coach because it’s too costly, it’s too expensive.”

It remains to be seen if tennis will address the issue of prize money, but if players like Djokovic and Kyrgios continue to shine a light on the issue, there could well be some positive change in the near future.