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Summary Roger Federer has vowed to investigate ATP decision to reject an offer to increase prize money.
Roger Federer has vowed to investigate the ATPs controversial decision to reject an offer to increase prize money at the Indian Wells tournament.The issue of prize money has been a hot topic for the last 12 months as stars like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic push for the four Grand Slams to raise the financial rewards on offer.As president of the ATP players council, Federer has been keen to ensure any increase in prize money is spread equally among the lower ranked players as well as the leading names.And the players, who had talked at times of considering strike action to make their point, appeared to be winning the battle as Wimbledon and the Australian, French and US Opens all opened up the coffers to improve prize money this year.But the ATP delivered a surprise blow to the cause earlier this month when it was revealed that organisers of the Indian Wells event in California -- one of the ATPs flagship Masters 1000 tournaments -- had been snubbed when they offered to improve the total prize money pot by 1 million pounds ($1.6 million), meaning an extra $800,000 each for the mens and womens competitions.The decision was reportedly taken because the tournament wanted to give more to those losing in the earlier rounds in a contravention of the ATPs rules, but many players are said to be furious about the move and Federer plans to ask questions in a bid to resolve the problem.For me, I was a bit surprised to hear that, Federer said after his win over David Ferrer at the ATP Tour Finals in London on Thursday.Obviously, I wasnt in the room when everything went down because its at the board level, at the CEO level.What I can tell you is I will investigate and make sure that the decision theyve taken is, indeed, the right one.If its not, then obviously we need to talk about it and what we can do in the future. Its an important issue.Former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, the Czech fifth seed at the Tour Finals, also took issue with the ATPs decision when asked about the situation earlier in the week.Thats what we are all looking for. If there is someone who is able to increase it, bring something more to us players, then I dont see any reason why someone could be saying, No, its not good idea, Berdych said.I dont see any reason why there should be a problem with that. Thats probably the goal of all of us. I mean, if there is someone who is able to do it, why to say no?
