Fiona Crawley progressed through the three qualifying rounds to reach the main draw at the 2023 US Open but was denied her prize money due to her amateur status.
US player Cralwey began her US Open campaign on August 22 in the qualifying rounds and defeated Reka Luca Jani, Timea Babos, and Kimberly Birrell en route to her Grand Slam debut. However, the amateur player's experience would end with a round-one defeat after Crawley lost in straight sets against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
However, Crawley was left frustrated after she was unable to receive her funds for reaching the first round, estimated to be around $81,500, due to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) law that states amateurs can only collect $10,000 in prize funds per calendar year.
When speaking to the News and Observer, Crawley expressed her outrage and felt tennis players are treated unfairly compared to amateurs from other sports.
“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.”
Crawley had the option to drop her NCAA status and receive the prize money, but the 21-year-old opted not to do so. However, the US player will make some consolation under the NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) rule that allows amateurs to make an income from their own image.
As per the NCAA official rules, players can take up to $10,000 in prize money from official events in sports. But athletes cannot take any more than this amount in prize funds.
"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."
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