World No 3 Dominic Thiem got flak from several quarters on social media when he questioned the logic behind giving his hard-won money to support lower-ranked tennis players struggling because of the coronavirus-enforced shutdown of sport. However, there were many others who said he was misquoted because of translation.

The plan, proposed by Novak Djokovic in conjunction with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, calls for creating a special fund for lower-ranked players with the money coming from the prize money for the season-ending World Tour Finals or the final bonus pools for top players.

Even the ATP, WTA and Grand Slams have come forward to create a fund to help the players and it looked like everyone is on the same page. But Austria’s Thiem said that he would rather give money to people or organisations that really need it.

“Quite honestly I have to say that no tennis player will be fighting to survive, even those who are much lower-ranked. None of them are going to starve, Thiem was quoted as saying in an interview with Austria’s Krone newspaper.

He said that his experience competing on the sport’s Futures circuit had shown him that there are “many, many players who don’t put the sport above everything else and don’t live in a professional manner.” “I wouldn’t really see why I should give such players money,” he went on.

According to reports Djokovic, as president of the ATP Players’ Council, proposed to members that players in the top 100 for singles and the top 20 in doubles contribute according to their rankings. The proposed scale runs from $30,000 for a top-five player to $5,000 for those between 51 and 100.

Fans and the tennis community were divided on what the Austrian said, some suggesting that the translation wasn’t entirely perfect and hence he was misquoted. Here’s what he is to have said, according to an Austrian user on Reddit.

Via Reddit

But many were very critical of Thiem’s comments and called him insensitive. Here are some of the comments on the social media.