A RISING American tennis sensation furiously blasted the rules preventing her from collecting a whopping $81,500 in prize money.
Fiona Crawley came all the way through three rounds of qualifying at the US Open.
The Mega AgencyFiona Crawley made it all the way through qualifying to reach the US Open first round[/caption]
That included winning two matches with clutch deciding-set tie-breaks and even saving match points in one.
And that saw the 21-year-old make her main-draw debut at a tennis Grand Slam.
Crawley was beaten 6-2 6-4 to former world No21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round.
And the reward for getting knocked out at the first hurdle in the main draw of 128 singles players at the US Open this year was a cool $81,500 – with $3million for the winner.
However, amateur Crawley was forced to forfeit that mega cash due to little-known rules.
That is because the youngster is still in university and competing for the North Carolina Tar Heels in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In fact, she is currently ranked the No1 in the college tennis system and led her team to their first national championship title, which in turn saw her given a qualifying wildcard for the US Open.
However, NCAA laws state athletes can only claim prize money “if it does not exceed $10,000 per calendar year and comes from the sponsor of the event”.
The legislation adds: “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.”
And taking the $81,500 from her exploits at Flushing Meadows would have forced Crawley to quit the NCAA, leaving the ace fuming.
Crawley – who misses out on at least another $11,000 from the doubles event in New York – raged to The News & Observer: “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 deals – standing for name, image and likeness – allow amateur college sports stars in the NCAA to make money from their image including through advertising.
And fans on social media felt sympathy for the world No729 American.
One said: “What an absolute shame. Such a terrible system.”
Another wrote: “So sorry for her, I hope she achieves her goals.”
A third added: “Crazy how much she loves college tennis in order to give that up.”
A fourth typed: “What a ridiculous rule. They need to change it.”
And a final user commented: “This makes zero sense.”
British sensation Paul Jubb was on the end of the tough legislation in 2019 when he missed out on crucial prize money from Wimbledon.