(Miami) The sun shone on Wednesday, during the first round of the Miami Masters 1000, but there was a storm on the No. 1 stadium, Vasic Busbecil let his anger explode … against ATP circuit chief Andrea Gaudensee, before he apologized.
Al-Kindi’s elimination by the American, resulting from qualifying, MacKenzie MacDonald (6-3, 4-6, 6-3) turned out to be the most recent version of the incident that occurred at the end of the first round.
Busbecil hit the ball for the first time off the field in frustration, before hitting a bat on the ground. Then, while serving in the first set at 5-3 and 40-15, he earned a penalty point for offensive language, losing the first set that way.
When asked when his team was changed by the referee, Arnaud Gabas, about the reasons for his anger, Busbesil replied: “What is happening today? Yesterday, for an hour and a half, the ATP president shouted at me at the players meeting, for trying to unite the players. For an hour and a half. Head of ATP.
“Get it out of here … Scholl … Why should I bear this?” », Continued 67H The world is talking about Andrea Gaudensee.
A few hours later, the player expressed his regret on Twitter. “I want to sincerely apologize for my behavior in court. I did not respect the game that I love and I deeply regret it.”
“By way of illustration, I was very upset during a meeting between the players and the ATP leaders last night, and … I played down those feelings until I got on the field today. Once again, I’m sorry for my behavior and for the language I used.”
Concerned endowments
At the end of last summer, Busbecil, who had until then been an enthusiastic member of the ATP Players Council, a body integrated into the organization, resigned to partner with world number one Novak Djokovic, the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), a parallel and independent body.
In November, he said in a broadcast on Tennis.com that the goal of PTPA is to ensure that players are represented appropriately. “With this organization we really have the power to influence the major decisions that are made that affect our livelihoods.”
As such, John Eisner highlighted earlier Wednesday that players questioned about the drop in endowments in tournaments on the ring, including the Miami Masters 1000, which rose from $ 1.35 million for singles winners in 2019 to just over 300,000. The year.
He said: “There is a little misunderstanding about how these endowments are managed and why their amounts are the same,” while realizing that “with the shortage coming from the ticket office, our portfolios are decreasing,” in times of Coronavirus. pandemic.
“But some players are wondering why they have dropped so much. The circuit has implemented a strategy of preserving in one way or another the fortunes of the first rounds, but those for the quarter, semi-finals and finals have been drastically reduced,” stressed the American, who will participate in the competition on Friday.
When asked about the PTPA, of which he was also a member last year, Eisner said, “Ultimately it could be beneficial for the episode, although some people definitely disagree with me.”