Tennis world english n 45 Tennis World english 45 | Page 41

this time. This allowed me
to get to know the
players and organizers
very well. I met and
interacted with a great
many players from 1996
to 2008. After that I
became the Director of
Player Relations, which
required me to work even
more closely with the
players.
How will the ATP
survive tennis after
Federer? Do you think
the Swiss can remain
influential in tennis
after his retirement? As
Michael Jordan has
done in the NBA?
Tennis will survive and
thrive after Federer
retires. We should
remember that Federer
and Nadal have attracted
many new people to the
sport of tennis, and not
just themselves. Once
they move on, those fans
will root for the next
generation of champions.
You might start watching
tennis because of a
particular player, but the
game has the sort of
effect on people that they
fall in love with it and stay
loyal to it even after their
favorite players retire.
Do you think it is the
right thing for
tournaments to award
wild cards to Maria
Sharapova? If you were
the director of a
tournament, would you
find it immoral to do
that?
It's a legal problem. Wild
cards are a tool to be
used at the discretion of
the event organizers. I
find the reactions to the
wild cards a little
exaggerated. It is not for
me to decide if it is
immoral. I can say that it
is certainly lawful and
therefore I cannot stand
against those who decide
to invite her.
What is your position on
equal prize money
between men and
women?
I think there are two kinds
of discussion, a social
one and an entertainment
one. Socially, the
discussion is already
closed. We have decided
that as a society that
there must not be any
discrimination based on
sex, religion or race. At
the same time, I believe
that entertainment is
based on other laws, that
have nothing to do with
social laws. It would be
like claiming the same
payment for male and
female models on the
catwalk. A male model
will never make as much
as Naomi Campbell or
Claudia Schiffer. Anyone
claiming this would be
ridiculed, because female
models deserve more
money than male models.
This is simply because
the market has decided
that in that world, women
are to be paid more than
men. I think tennis is the
only form of
entertainment in the