Fiona Crawley was devastated in 2023 after she was forced to give up her US Open earnings to maintain her status as an amateur tennis player. The American ace defied the odds two years ago by reaching the first round of the Grand Slam after navigating her way through three qualifying rounds.
While she was beaten 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who was the world No. 88 at the time, the 23-year-old banked £64,000 in prize money for her run at Flushing Meadows. Despite being entitled to the sizeable amount, Crawley left New York without a single penny of her winnings.
Given her status as an NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) athlete, where she played tennis for the North Carolina Tar Heels, the organisation’s previous rule stated that NCAA student-athletes can only collect prize money “if it does not exceed $10,000 per calendar year and comes from the sponsor of the event.”
The ruling, which has since changed, added: “Once the $10,000 limit is reached, additional prize money may not exceed actual and necessary expenses for each subsequent event in the calendar year.” Unwilling to give up her NCAA status, Crawley opted to forego her entire cheque as she called the rule “unreal”.
Discussing her decision after her first-round match, as per The News & Observer, she said: “I would never take the money and never risk my eligibility, but I worked my butt off this week and it seems unreal that there are football and basketball players making millions in NIL deals, and I can’t take the money that I worked so hard for.”
NIL, which stands for Name, Image, and Likeness, has provided income for NCAA athletes since 2021 by allowing them to profit from their own image. The likes of Livvy Dunne, Shedeur Sanders and Bronny James are just a few of the ex-college athletes who were able to capitalise on the long-standing rule being overturned.
However, the same couldn’t be said for Crawley, who was subject to sympathy from Reddit users. One user wrote: “It’s insane that they can’t even let her put it into a trust that she’s ineligible to access until she’s no longer under NCAA rule.”
Minivatreni added: “Seems very unfair. $81,500 is a lot of money, and she could put it to good use to further her career and needs in tennis.” Currently ranked 306th in the world, Crawley was unable to repeat her US Open heroics this year as she was defeated in the second round of qualifying by Dalma Galfi 6-2, 6-2.