A number of players and coaches have been talking about the issue of lower-ranked players finding it hard to survive during this zero-income coronavirus phase, while the continuation of their tennis careers is also a big question. Among the most vocal players on the topic is singles world No.375 Sofia Shapatava of Georgia, who explains the struggles she’s currently facing and how she’ll have a hard time resuming her career when the pandemic is finally over.
From the confinement of her four-bedroom Tbilisi apartment which she shares with her parents, Sofia explained to CNN the long-known drastic disparity between the sport’s high performers and the rest, which has now only been accentuated with this COVID-19 pandemic:
Top 50 players in both the men’s and women’s rankings are 100 people … but there are 3,000 players, men and women combined, in the ranking.