First-round winner Michael Zheng has already earned $225,000 at this Australian Open, a sum that will continue to increase should he go deeper in the tournament.
But the American qualifier doesn’t know if he can accept a cent of it.
Michael Zheng was a first-round winner at this year’s Australian Open.Credit: AP
Zheng attends and plays tennis for Columbia University in the US, and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules state that full-time student-athletes can only accept prizemoney that covers their actual and necessary expenses for participating in an event.
The 21-year-old Ivy League student battled through qualifying then upset fellow American Sebastian Korda in five sets, which would usually guarantee him at least $225,000 ($US150,667), even if he loses his second-round match.
“I’ll talk to our head coach, [and] try to figure out what’s the deal with the prizemoney, if I’m allowed to take it or not,” Zheng, who is ranked No.174 in the world, said after beating Korda.
Australia’s Rinky Hijikata, who played college tennis for the University of North Carolina (UNC) from 2019-21, did not mince his words about Zheng’s unfortunate situation.
“It’s not right if you’re a college athlete and get paid a million dollars to do a car commercial, but then you know Michael’s out here busting his arse [for potentially no financial reward],” Hijikata said.
“He’s won three rounds of quallies, he’s beaten somebody top 30 in the world, and he can’t take his prizemoney for that. Yeah, I don’t know if I agree with that.”
Hijikata’s car commercial example is in reference to the NCAA’s name, image and likeness policy that enables college athletes, predominantly in American football and basketball, to earn millions of dollars while retaining their eligibility.