[Aggie_Ninja]

Katie Boulter’s visit to Roland Garros ended in a sharp getaway on Friday, as the British No. 2 declined the opportunity to answer questions about her controversial £20,323 pay packet.

Having watched her friend and Fed Cup team-mate Katie Swan lose in the final round of qualifying, Boulter left Court 12 at maximum speed – surprisingly fast, in fact, for a woman who is understood to be suffering from a spinal stress fracture. She swept past reporters with a hasty “Sorry!” instead of stopping to explain why she had allowed her name to appear in Friday’s French Open draw

MORE HERE: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2019/05/24/katie-boulter-makes-hasty-french-open-getaway-picking-controversial/?fbclid=IwAR2YJcVQZtt6jaoSl5ktce4LweS5_9A70DKyEpq_L5P9alGlGnPIHhupysk

 

[azbang]

Well shes literally one of the worst players to get inside the top 100 so she should enjoy this temporary money windfall.

 

[Beat]

vögele should sue her for £40,000:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/24/katie-boulter-clumsy-belated-withdrawal-french-open

 

[StephenUK]

It's not good for Katie's PR when both the Guardian and the Telegraph are criticising her - the only other woman suffering the same across the spectrum brickbats in Britain is Theresa May!

 

[Paullow Badosa]

Well, considering she has 13 wins over those in the top 110 (just to support the argument a bit ) in less than 12 months, despite only playing 6 events since October, I'd say there would be far worse players to have made the top 100, but each to their own.

As for the article. It's morally not great, same with Giorgi, but if those are the rules, then she has done nothing wrong. She has made less than £100k this year, so a £20k windfall for that level of player, same with every player in that ranking range, is certainly not to sniffed at.

They should change the rules (again) to allow everyone who made the slam entry list 5 weeks prior to get half the prize money, that they earned for being ranked high enough, if they withdrew anytime in that 5 week period. This way, more players would get the chance to play (Bondar in quals, Voegele in main draw) and slams can certainly afford to pay out a few extra £20k's out - if they can't, simply knock off £1k for every R1 loser and that would build a pot of £128k (or £2k to generate £256k) which they could use especially for these type of situations.

 

[GoDominique]

It's a joke. But also it's a joke rule. 50% of a lot of money is still a lot of money so no surprise players will sink to lows like this one.


Just pay the directly in MD players some kind of rent that is comparable to 1st round money at Slams and then abolish the 1st round money except for qualifiers.

 

[TheArtist]

The current rules still require an element of fair play and unfortunately that is still beyond some players.

 

[Paullow Badosa]

Her Tweet was a bit cringe though saying how she was hoping to make it, when in reality she knew for a while she wouldn't be playing. She should have said nothing there.

She's also not helped, in this situation, by being a leading player in a big tennis nation with a notorious widespread press always looking for a controversial story and were quick to report her injury was more serious than expected a month ago. Had it have been someone like say Lapko or Jorovic then I don't think it would have got the general coverage it has.

 

[Miracle Worker]

In such cases like this next player from list should make MD - no matter if she plays or not play qualifications. And no matter when she lost in those quali.

Voegele was 1st alternate and she should have made MD. Even if she lost in 1st of quali.

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

Her Tweet was a bit cringe though saying how she was hoping to make it, when in reality she knew for a while she wouldn't be playing. She should have said nothing there.

She's also not helped, in this situation, by being a leading player in a big tennis nation with a notorious widespread press always looking for a controversial story and were quick to report her injury was more serious than expected a month ago. Had it have been someone like say Lapko or Jorovic then I don't think it would have got the general coverage it has.

Right, she withdrew from Surbiton already, so no way did she think she could play the FO.

I think she got some advice from someone to do this, probably her coach. But I know I would find it difficult to turn down an opportunity for £20,323... And it's not like she's taking the money from needy children..the Grand Slam tournaments are loaded.

The British press are such vultures... the way they make passive aggressive comments about her walking quickly when she has a spinal injury.. TBh, I would do the exact same thing, just walk past them quickly and not engage. :lol:

 

[joeh37]

Her Tweet was a bit cringe though saying how she was hoping to make it, when in reality she knew for a while she wouldn't be playing. She should have said nothing there.

She's also not helped, in this situation, by being a leading player in a big tennis nation with a notorious widespread press always looking for a controversial story and were quick to report her injury was more serious than expected a month ago. Had it have been someone like say Lapko or Jorovic then I don't think it would have got the general coverage it has.

Yep this is the truth. British media seem to talk about Boulter a lot (I'm guessing her aesthetically appealing appearance may have something to do with that).

Shoddy journalism around British tennis reporting that she had withdrawn when she was still on the EL is one thing. But people can pretend to be righteous but if you're on the breadline as a tennis player this money pays your coach for two months.

And we don't know how serious the injury could be, she might never make a GS MD again so for players in her situation I can understand why.

Tatishvili who hasn't played for 18 months is probably going to limp out against Sakkari and lose 1&1 in R1 and pick up 40k and then people are going to complain that she didn't pull out... at least Boulter didn't take to the court and make her injury worse.

The rule is good, the problem is people who have no idea about the situation of being a professional tennis player think that some divine morality should rank above paying the bills. That and the coverage of the injury, but I'm not sure if Boulter said anything herself about withdrawing it was just reported in some way as gospel truth.

 

[Paullow Badosa]

Let's also not forget Giorgi, she seems to have avoided most of the criticism. She's not played since Miami, had very little chance of playing here, but also conveniently withdrew late enough to collect her £20k windfall - the likes of Allertova would have been in the main draw had Camila also withdrawn a little earlier, and while this rule is still in existence, it will continue to be exploited.

 

[Dodge]

So she should have turned up, played a few games, retired and taken twice as much money?

Thats what was happening all over Wimbledon 2017 when the powers that be decided to take action.

 

[StephenUK]

Giorgi is just as bad, except for the fact that there weren't articles in the press several weeks ago saying she would pull out of RG. The Boulter articles must have come from the Boulter camp. If she had better PR sense, she would have put out a statement like: 'I am sorry to pull out of Nuremberg but I am really hoping to play at RG but in the end it is up to what the doctors say.' and not pulled out of Surbiton until she had also pulled out of RG. Then she would have covered herself, but this was messy.


And she cannot be surprised about the British press. Roland Garros is when the temporary tennis media that exists in Britain for May-July dusts off the cobwebs on its tennis 'knowledge' and starts to take up its seven week interest in tennis, so she would know that they would have their eyes on her. I imagine the Sun and the Mirror are probably going to preparing big features on 'Brit beauty Boulter' etc as we speak and have probably been interviewing her already.

But these two may not be the last - I will not be surprised if at least one more takes the $20k and hobbles into the sunset by tomorrow/Monday.

 

[StephenUK]

So she should have turned up, played a few games, retired and taken twice as much money?

Thats what was happening all over Wimbledon 2017 when the powers that be decided to take action.

No but the $20k cash should only be available to the people who withdraw in the week before the draw is made not after. They can receive $2 after the draw is made.

 

[catgut049]

Let's also not forget Giorgi, she seems to have avoided most of the criticism. She's not played since Miami, had very little chance of playing here, but also conveniently withdrew late enough to collect her £20k windfall - the likes of Allertova would have been in the main draw had Camila also withdrawn a little earlier, and while this rule is still in existence, it will continue to be exploited.

There is no evidence that Giorgi went to Paris to collect 50% of the 1R prize money.

To be on spot and to be examined by an independent doctor is a mandatory requirement for the new rule to apply. Of course we do not know about the medical examination, but is well documented that Boulter was in Paris.

Also Berdich was in Paris, so the rule applies, but again there is no evidence for the Parisian presence of Raonic or Kyrgios.

 

[GoDominique]

Then everyone should be examined right before the entry deadline whether they are going to be fit to play or not.

 

[happydayhk]

Giorgi is just as bad, except for the fact that there weren't articles in the press several weeks ago saying she would pull out of RG. The Boulter articles must have come from the Boulter camp. If she had better PR sense, she would have put out a statement like: 'I am sorry to pull out of Nuremberg but I am really hoping to play at RG but in the end it is up to what the doctors say.' and not pulled out of Surbiton until she had also pulled out of RG. Then she would have covered herself, but this was messy.

Pretty much this. It was a dumb move from her team to talk about how she's gonna miss RG a month ahead. They probably thought it's a nice stunt to highlight how she sacrificed her own career for the Fed Cup team but it's backfiring now.

 

[nemala]

Right, she withdrew from Surbiton already, so no way did she think she could play the FO.

I think she got some advice from someone to do this, probably her coach. But I know I would find it difficult to turn down an opportunity for £20,323... And it's not like she's taking the money from needy children..the Grand Slam tournaments are loaded.

The British press are such vultures... the way they make passive aggressive comments about her walking quickly when she has a spinal injury.. TBh, I would do the exact same thing, just walk past them quickly and not engage. :lol:

She's taking it from another player's pocket.

 

[Daydreamer]

So this was a bit unfortunate... :|

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1127910200172740610

It's easy for us to judge but it would be difficult to walk away from the money.