Patrick Mouratoglou, who runs the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy and is Serena Williams’ coach, has called on the sport’s officials to help lower-ranked players on the tour who are struggling financially because of the coronavirus shutdown.

The global pandemic saw the ATP and WTA halted in early March and the shutdown has been extended till July, wiping out the clay-court and grass seasons and cancelling Wimbledon.

In a letter shared on his social media account, he said the ongoing situation highlighted how “dysfunctional” tennis is as a sport.

“Players ranked outside the top 100 are barely breaking even and most of them are forced to fund their careers to keep playing professionally. Their lives are a financial struggle,” he wrote. The players at his academy include Stefanos Tsitsipas and Coco Gauff.

Tennis, unlike most other sports, is individual with players functioning as independent operators with no contracts. Most of them rely on prize money from one tournament to the next, with costs such as travel and stay for events in different countries included. This means that players not ranked in the top 100 are often at a disadvantage due to the disparity in finances and lack of sponsorship at their level.

“Unlike basketball or football players, tennis players aren’t covered by fixed annual salaries. They’re independent contractors. They’re paying for their travels. They’re paying fixed salaries to their coaching staffs, while their own salaries depend on the number of matches they win,” he wrote.

“Top players 100% deserve their earning. However, I find it revolting that the 100th-best player of one of the most popular sports in the world - followed by an estimated one billion fans - is barely able to make a living out of it,” the French coach added.

Here’s his letter in full

A few days back, Georgian player Sofia Shapatava launched a petition requesting the International Tennis Federation to dig deep and help out the hundreds of players who have lost their livelihoods.

“Players lower ranked than 250 will not be able to buy food in two-three weeks’ time,” warned Shapatava, who is not optimistic the ITF will look favourably on her plea.

“There are more important things like life and death, but a lot of players from smaller countries, (are) unable to earn any income, unable to claim benefits as they are considered ‘self-employed’,” wrote Tara Moore in support of Shapatava’s petition. “It will be tough for many players to survive the next couple of months.”

Many players outside the lucrative top 100 traditionally supplement their meagre incomes by coaching or playing in European club leagues. However, those reliable revenue streams dried up after governments worldwide banned large gatherings to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Doubles player Bruno Soares, who is a member of the ATP Players Council, had said that they have been discussing the financial implications of the suspension, but there has been no response as yet.