Sergiy Stakhovsky revealed in “The Roger Federer Effect” book that the Swiss tennis legend played a major role in securing increases in prize money for the players. In 2013, Stakhovsky famously stunned Federer at The All England Club.
At the time, both Stakhovsky and Federer were members of the ATP Player Council. The Roger Federer Effect, a book that was published by British writer Simon Cambers and Swiss writer Simon Graf, details the moment when the players secured increased prize money at the Grand Slams in 2013.
This month, the ATP announced a record $37.5 million increase in prize money for 2023 – the increase now brings the total compensation to $217.9 million.
Stakhovsky admits having Federer as the negotiator was probably the key
“It was extremely good to have him because it’s one thing having a Sergiy Stakhovsky or a Gilles Simon on the Council, and another when you have Roger Federer.
It makes a lot of difference when he is negotiating or he is making a case. He was essential in terms of the prize money increases. We were going through this topic for a number of years, we had a pretty harsh time and we had a very good, solid background of the players who were willing to do something about it.
And yet if it had not been for Roger and Rafa [Nadal], I doubt we would have been able to push it. I remember Roger calling us and saying we’d got the big [rise], then later on we understood why we got it. He got the deal because he said, ‘we can either do the deal now, or you can go and talk to Gilles Simon and Sergiy Stakhovsky’.
It was kind of funny,” Stakhovsky told Simon Cambers and Simon Graf, as quoted on Tennis Majors. Stakhovsky, 36, last played in January, when he suffered a loss in the Australian Open qualifying first round. On the other side, 41-year-old Federer retired from professional tennis after this year’s Laver Cup.
