Earnings of low ranking tennis players

[tennisfan1985]

hello everyone, Their is a question regarding Pro tennis lingering in my mind for quiet some time now.Hope some of you could guide me.I was wondering that if you vist the atp and wta websites and check the profiles of the lowest ranking players(200 and below) you often find that after 7 or 8 years as professional tennis players their total career prize money is in the range of 1000 to 3000 dollars.I wonder if this prize money given on the website is their only source of earning as professional tennis players.Because with this income they must be poor people and I know poor people can,t afford to be professional tennis players.Can anybody please guide me on this issue.

 

[burosky]

hello everyone, Their is a question regarding Pro tennis lingering in my mind for quiet some time now.Hope some of you could guide me.I was wondering that if you vist the atp and wta websites and check the profiles of the lowest ranking players(200 and below) you often find that after 7 or 8 years as professional tennis players their total career prize money is in the range of 1000 to 3000 dollars.I wonder if this prize money given on the website is their only source of earning as professional tennis players.Because with this income they must be poor people and I know poor people can,t afford to be professional tennis players.Can anybody please guide me on this issue.

A lot of players who turn pro or are already on tour have sponsors (corporate or personal) who "front" the money for them so they can go on tour. Of course, those who can afford don't need to seek sponsorship. The money you see there though is basically tournament winnings. It doesn't include any other money they make outside of tournaments.

 

[VGP]

On the ATP site, it counts tour level match earnings.

It won't count the money they make in minor league tennis. Players that don't make it past 200 or so really don't make much money in the sponsorship arena.

Lower ranked players might get fronted some money by their national tennis federation, but that depends on the policies of their governing bodies. You might get some clothing money or free or discounted rackets. Take DeHeart getting to the second round and scoring a TV spot against Nadal. He came to the USO without a clothing deal. He got one the day before the match and even got a Geico sponsorship which the announcers said got him about $10K on top of his second round earnings.

In the end, for the most part you gotta win enough to get yourself to the next tournament.

Like Courier and others say, "in tennis you eat what kill."

 

[diadorakuerten]

Also some players play club tennis in Europe which is very lucrative. They only have to play 5 or 6 matches (not counting playoffs) and they make $5,000 to $20,000 doing it. A lot of Spaniards play in the South of France in clubs like Toulouse and Colomiers, for example.

 

[JW10S]

The 'official prize money' listed on a player's bio is not their sole source of income, whether the player is ranked high or low. A lot of players ranked 200 or below can earn decent money playing in non-ATP or non-ITF sanctioned prize money tournaments. These tournaments do not count in their official stats, do not count for the world rankings, but can sometimes pay better than a Futures or even a low level Challenger event. Also players can earn room and board as well as money playing club league tennis like the German Bundesliga or from playing WTT. Again this will not be listed as 'official prize money'. Many players get support from private or corporate sponsors as mentioned above and many get extensive support from their country's Tennis Federations. Even lower ranked players can earn money playing exhibitions, Pro/Ams, Pro/Celebs, etc., which again will not be listed as prize money. Players can earn money if they play on a TV court at a big event--those patches on their shirts can be worth anywhere from a couple hundred $ to several thousand $ per match depending on the event. Finally, there are some lower ranked players getting paid for endorsement contracts for tennis gear while some higher ranked players are not--sometimes a player's local influence is worth more to the manufacturers and tennis companies than their global influence. So not every player ranked below 200 is starving.

 

[ClarkC]

hello everyone, Their is a question regarding Pro tennis lingering in my mind for quiet some time now.Hope some of you could guide me.I was wondering that if you vist the atp and wta websites and check the profiles of the lowest ranking players(200 and below) you often find that after 7 or 8 years as professional tennis players their total career prize money is in the range of 1000 to 3000 dollars.I wonder if this prize money given on the website is their only source of earning as professional tennis players.Because with this income they must be poor people and I know poor people can,t afford to be professional tennis players.Can anybody please guide me on this issue.

Can you provide some examples? It might be easier to explain if we had an actual example of someone with 3000 dollars career earnings after 7-8 years.

 

[Nellie]

I recall an article a couple of years ago about a touring pro, Brian Vahaly, who was ranked about 100 and had graduated from the University of Virginia. He had earned about $100k, but most of that went to travel costs (travelling 47 weeks per year) and paying his coach, so he still lived at home and did not own a car.

 

[tennisfan1985]

Thankyou for your generous response to my post.My friend JW10S you said that "Not all players ranked below 200 are starving".This implies that some of them are starving.Please explain a little bit.Also if you guys need some examples plz follow these given links http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/playerprofiles/?playernumber=J102 http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/playerbio.asp?PlayerID=314388 Kim Stierli has been a professional since 2005 and she hasonly made 1,956 dollars in prize money as given on the website.This only means poverty unless their some other source of income

 

[JW10S]

Starving was a metaphor, I didn't mean it literally. What I meant to imply is due to the other sources of income available some players ranked below 200 are doing better financially than you might otherwise think. Anyone who has only made a few thousand in earnings over several years is being supported by someone else, be it family, sponsors, their federation or all of the above. There may be an exception, I just have never seen it where a tennis professional was starving.

 

[tennisfan1985]

Thankyou JW10S for your kind responses to my responses to my queries.Any other responses??

 

[ClarkC]

Thankyou for your generous response to my post.My friend JW10S you said that "Not all players ranked below 200 are starving".This implies that some of them are starving.Please explain a little bit.Also if you guys need some examples plz follow these given links http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/playerprofiles/?playernumber=J102 http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/playerbio.asp?PlayerID=314388 Kim Stierli has been a professional since 2005 and she hasonly made 1,956 dollars in prize money as given on the website.This only means poverty unless their some other source of income

I can see a teaching pro playing an occasional local Futures event and therefore having almost no career prize money, because he is not really attempting to make a living as a tennis player. He makes a living as a teaching pro. Perhaps you were exaggerating a bit when you said that someone could play for 7-8 years and only have $1000 to $3000 in prize money. Your male ATP player example is a German who has $22000 in career earnings and is ranked 900+ right now. He

If you were unaware of the possibility of a teaching pro playing 1-2 tourneys a year just for the heck of it, then I guess you have your answer now. If there was something else you were getting at, I am not sure. I thought maybe you were picturing some guy slogging away, playing week after week on the tournament circuit, losing in the first round 20 times a year for 8 years, losing in the second round once or twice a year so he makes $100 or so, accumulating $1000 in 8 years, etc. Clearly, that is not happening.

 

[ClarkC]

I recall an article a couple of years ago about a touring pro, Brian Vahaly, who was ranked about 100 and had graduated from the University of Virginia. He had earned about $100k, but most of that went to travel costs (travelling 47 weeks per year) and paying his coach, so he still lived at home and did not own a car.

Brian made about $100K per year, just to clarify. If you do that by constant playing and traveling with a coach, you can spend almost all of it. If someone makes 100K in their whole career, then they are not bringing a coach along more than one week a year, and probably are making money teaching at a club and then going off on occasional forays in the tournament world.

$100K per year is a very modest living, due to expenses. This has been discussed on several threads. Remember the American pro in the Chang/Sampras generation (maybe a few years before that) who lived in his VW bus when he started on the tour, so that all his earnings would not be spent on hotels? Not good with names, but I can picture him.

Edit: I was thinking of Derrick Rostagno.

 

[tennisfan1985]

Dear ClarkC you have admitted Derrick Rostagno lived in a VW bus and also Brian made a $100K a year.where these two gentlemen not teaching pro??.If not then this implies that they lived a life of relative poverty.Also Mark Joachim the German I mentioned has been a professional since atleast 15 years.Also Brian ranked 100 in the world.What about those rakinking around 900-1000??

 

[tennisfan1985]

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/PlayerBio.asp?PlayerID=20706 http://www.wta96.com/wiki/lresults.php?aar=2008&spnr=2439 Here is an example.The first link is the profile of wta player Ekaterina Bychkova on wta official website.As you can see she has been a professional since year 2000.In 8 years her prize money is $539,892.That,s less then $100k a year.The second link gives you her schedule for year 2008 which clearly indicates that she,s playing 2 to 3 tournaments per month not per year.Any explanation of such scenario

 

[ClarkC]

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/PlayerBio.asp?PlayerID=20706 http://www.wta96.com/wiki/lresults.php?aar=2008&spnr=2439 Here is an example.The first link is the profile of wta player Ekaterina Bychkova on wta official website.As you can see she has been a professional since year 2000.In 8 years her prize money is $539,892.That,s less then $100k a year.The second link gives you her schedule for year 2008 which clearly indicates that she,s playing 2 to 3 tournaments per month not per year.Any explanation of such scenario

Bychkova "turned pro" in the year 2000, but was only 15 at the time. I doubt that she was supporting herself financially 100% at the time. Her federation and/or parents were no doubt helping. No doubt she still lived at home for years after that, and maybe even does so today at age 23.

She probably did not play as much in those first few years as she does now. She has made $90,000 so far this calendar year, so she probably makes well over $100,000 per year in the recent years when she was actually a full time pro and not a 15 year old living with her parents and just getting her feet wet on the tour.

I still don't get your point or what the big deal is here. There can be at most X players who can make an actual living from the professional tour, and X is less than the number of players who appear on the computer rankings list. Every male college player who has played one ATP Futures event in the offseason appears on the ATP computer. That is why the rankings go down to 2000 or so, but 2000 players cannot make a living playing ATP tennis. Many of those 2000 ranked players are not even trying to do so. They have some other job, such as teaching tennis, or they are still amateurs who have never accepted more than the expense level of prize money, or they play non-ATP events for money, or they play European club tennis for money not reflected on the computer, etc.

 

[tennisfan1985]

Sir plz be patient with me.My point is that the common perception is that all professional tennis players are rich.But the fact is that only the top 20 or 30 tennis players are rich.Others are common people struggling between a career and a decent living.The truth of professional tennis is'nt as glamourous as commonly perceived.

 

[ClarkC]

Sir plz be patient with me.My point is that the common perception is that all professional tennis players are rich.But the fact is that only the top 20 or 30 tennis players are rich.Others are common people struggling between a career and a decent living.The truth of professional tennis is'nt as glamourous as commonly perceived.

Certainly no one ranked 200 or below is rich. We agree on that.

Those who are ranked between 40-100 are not rich by some people's standards, but they are doing pretty well. However, the #40 tennis player makes very little money compared to the #40 baseball player, football player, etc.

Others have pointed out in other threads that the #100 tennis player makes significantly less than the #100 golfer.

 

[tennisfan1985]

Dear we agree that those ranked below 200 are not rich.Plz guide me about the conditions of players ranked between 100-200.Also plz tell me by "rich" what kind of living standard do you envision.Also tell me that by your understanding are their any tennis professionals living a life of relative poverty.I am very thankful to you on your kind responses.

 

[ClarkC]

Not sure about 100-200 range.

However, one comment on expenses. A lot of people have noted that a player can make $100,000 a year and spend almost all of it on expenses. A big part of the expenses: hotel rooms, rental cars, room service meals, and airplane tickets. That sounds like a pretty ritzy lifestyle to the average working stiff.

If your neighbor flew all over the world, stayed in hotels, ordered room service meals, etc., you would not think of him as living in relative poverty. Especially if he had the non-economic benefit of doing what he loved for a job.

 

[ClarkC]

Here are the earnings so far this year of the players ranked 101-200, taking every tenth player as a sample:

110: Vince Spadea, $220,638
120: Jan Hernych, $136,418
130: Gilles Muller, $74,851
140: Michail Elgin, $53,999
150: Xavier Malisse, $176,755
160: Eric Prodon, $79,773
170: Mariano Puerta, $37,458
180: Stefano Galvani, $74,050
190: Brendan Evans, $46,295
200: Rui Machado, $42,489

Some of the rankings seem a bit out of order, due to two factors: (1) ranking points include some 2007 points, but not prize money; and (2) some people make some good money in doubles while others accomplish little in doubles.

Expenses for players on the South American Challenger circuit might be less than those doing the circuit in the USA or Europe.

I would say that 3-4 of these guys are just getting by, financially, regardless of which continent they are playing on. They will finish the year with less than $100K. The other 6 will make $100K or more, a lot more in some cases.

Compared to the #140 player in the NFL, $53K is not too impressive.

 

[tennisfan1985]

Thanks clarkC for your help.Just a couple of clarifications.can you tell me of some other threads on which this topic has been discussed.Secondly kindly please elaborate a bit further What do you mean by "these guys are just getting by, financially"

 

[get it in]

It is possible that tennisfan is not in the United States. Hence it would be difficult to relate to the financial needs of the average citizen. Certainly most of us agree that the top 100 tennis player make a decent living in that they do not have to be vigilant about their expenses. They can stay at a middle range hotel, eat at a nice restaurant every once in a while and such.

If you are not in the top 100 or so ranked players, you probably don't bring a coach with you to every tournament. You most likely have a small apartment and spend most of your time training for various events. You definitely do not fly first class (even the top 20-50 players don't). You might even drive a very average car if you even have one at all. With all the touring, it doesn't always make sense to own a car.

Traveling the world and playing a sport you love is a great benefit to being a pro. If one wanted to just earn a lot of money, professional baseball, football, or basketball will earn you a lot more. Besides, those guys have unions to help them with minimum salaries. Just for comparison, the minimum salary for a baseball player is $380k. For football it is $285. Yes, these are great salaries but remember that one can only play professional sports a short period of time. The average career in football is only 3 years!

The reality is this: you will earn a much better living going to college and getting a degree that will earn you good money over 30-40 years. Just play tennis on the side. That's what most of us do!

 

[tennisdad65]

110: Vince Spadea, $220,638
120: Jan Hernych, $136,418
130: Gilles Muller, $74,851.

Take away travel, coaches, hotels, and other expenses, even a profit/net of $100 K a year is not much at all considering tennis players have only 10-12 yr careers.

If you are in the US, you are better off getting a degree + MBA and a nice job. You can earn 125-150K+ every year for the rest of your life.

So, for americans, it really does not make financial sense to be a professional tennis player, unless you can take home $300K+ at the end of the year for about 10 yrs minimum.

now, for someone in a poor 3rd world country, taking home 100k per year, would probably be huge.

 

[Fee]

Thanks clarkC for your help.Just a couple of clarifications.can you tell me of some other threads on which this topic has been discussed.Secondly kindly please elaborate a bit further What do you mean by "these guys are just getting by, financially"

Let me see if I can help you by giving you one specific example - Sam Warburg. Sam is an American player who went to Stanford and earned a college degree. He decided to go pro after getting a few decent results and doing well in World Team Tennis. Check out his profile for his specific results (I don't follow him that closely so I can't quote them from memory). Sam still lives 'at home' with his parents when he's not on the road playing. He plays Team Tennis every July (which is a decent paycheck), he plays most of the year in the US and he takes advantage of guest housing whenever he can. I believe that he gets some equipment from Nike and Babolat (don't quote me on that, it might just be discounts), and he did not have a full time coach the last time I saw him (early Summer). There are some American players who get financial assistance from the USTA, but I don't think Sam is one of them. In the US, tennis players can deduct their airfare and other expenses from their income taxes (if they are smart enough to keep good records), but I don't know how much that helps them.

 

[RoddickAce]

Thankyou for your generous response to my post.My friend JW10S you said that "Not all players ranked below 200 are starving".This implies that some of them are starving.Please explain a little bit.Also if you guys need some examples plz follow these given links http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/playerprofiles/?playernumber=J102 http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/playerbio.asp?PlayerID=314388 Kim Stierli has been a professional since 2005 and she hasonly made 1,956 dollars in prize money as given on the website.This only means poverty unless their some other source of income

You also have to consider how many matches the person has played!

 

[Richie Rich]

I remember reading an article on Brian Russell (the guy who almost beat Guga at FO). He's pretty much been ranked around 100 his whole career. He mentioned after his expenses (travel, equipment, strings, coach, physio, etc) he was breaking even on the tour. He might have saved a little but it wasn't much.

 

[Underhand]

Thankyou for your generous response to my post.My friend JW10S you said that "Not all players ranked below 200 are starving".This implies that some of them are starving.

Exactly. For example here Federer begged for some pizza from the generous ballgirls/boys who leave some for him.

 

[Alexio92]

The atp should put more money into challanger/futures events and get them on tv maybe once in a while atleast for challangers then get them more prize money.

 

[Tennisplaya10]

well im not really surprised about the unfair prize money distribution.
tennis is a very elitist and individualistic sport.
very unfair considering that grand slams could not take place without the lower ranked players. allas atp wouldnt exist without the ambitions of lower ranked players.
but i dont think federer and co really care. the atp is s$$%t and i hope there will be an alternative someday.

 

[Tennismint]

The atp should put more money into challanger/futures events and get them on tv maybe once in a while atleast for challangers then get them more prize money.

Reviving an old thread....
Exactly, I can't believe how difficult it is to find ITF futures tournaments and ATP challengers (to a lesser degree) on youtube.
They don't even have a proper cameraman. Local tv's should be showing some matches.

 

[Russeljones]

Stakhovsky broke even shortly after defeating Federer at Wimbledon. This was after a long long time on the Tour. He broke even.

 

[OrangePower]

Reviving an old thread....
Exactly, I can't believe how difficult it is to find ITF futures tournaments and ATP challengers (to a lesser degree) on youtube.
They don't even have a proper cameraman. Local tv's should be showing some matches.

When last did you personally go watch a futures or challenger event live?
How many people were there watching?

 

[Gizo]

I've said this with a few times, but it's a huge problem that lower ranked players are actually worse off financially in 2014 than they were 20 years ago in 1994 for instance.

Becoming a professional tennis player is very expensive, and the costs of equipment, coaching, travelling (a huge killer) and nutrition have all increased with inflation over the past 20 years. However the prize money at challenger, future, satellite events etc. has barely increased at all in that time.

So in-fact it is harder for lower ranked players to make a good living from tennis, or even break even, nowadays than it was 10 or 20 years ago. That is a very worrying trend. All it means is that tennis is becoming a much more unattractive and unappealing career option to aspiring athletes. A lot of their parents are crunching the numbers and deciding that the financial risk is just too great.

 

[Gizo]

Here in England, you can play in the 4th highest division/tier in our football league system, League 2, and earn an average salary of approximately £72,000 a year, which comes to approximately $US 120,000 a year.

Minus expenses such as travelling, coaching etc., how many tennis players earn more than that on a net basis in a year? A very small % of them that's for sure. It just goes to show how financially the grass is so much greener in team sports than tennis for male athletes.

 

[dominikk1985]

they are poor so they need getting some extra money by teaching tennis and having sex with bored rich housewifes.

 

[OrangePower]

Here in England, you can play in the 4th highest division/tier in our football league system, League 2, and earn an average salary of approximately £72,000 a year, which comes to approximately $US 120,000 a year.

Minus expenses such as travelling, coaching etc., how many tennis players earn more than that on a net basis in a year? A very small % of them that's for sure. It just goes to show how financially the grass is so much greener in team sports than tennis for male athletes.

Don't think it's just team sports vs individual. For example golf is individual but yet lower ranked players make much more compared to tennis.

Basically it comes down to whether we as fans care to watch the lower rated guys. If they get enough eyeballs (both live and on tv), then the prize money will go up. But as it is they are not valued.

Lower rated golfers get more eyeballs. To some extent it is because how golf tournaments are structured vs tennis tournaments.

Same with football/soccer. How many fans at a League 2 game? Versus how many fans at the last Futures event you went to (assuming you've even ever been to one)?

 

[West Coast Ace]

Don't think it's just team sports vs individual. For example golf is individual but yet lower ranked players make much more compared to tennis.

Basically it comes down to whether we as fans care to watch the lower rated guys. If they get enough eyeballs (both live and on tv), then the prize money will go up. But as it is they are not valued.

Lower rated golfers get more eyeballs. To some extent it is because how golf tournaments are structured vs tennis tournaments.

Same with football/soccer. How many fans at a League 2 game? Versus how many fans at the last Futures event you went to (assuming you've even ever been to one)?

Very true. The PGA (and EU tour) have done a great job; they have stars - but still make the other events good entertainment. The ATP and WTA are completely star driven. ATP should be very worried about the post-Big 4 era.

The comparison with football - EU's biggest sport by far - are useless. Team sport and near religion.

 

[BeefyDeedz]

Unless tennis employs a trickle-down effect, the feeder system is going to dry up. Has anyone been to a challenger with more than 10-20 spectators lately? I find the British tennis system particularly laughable. I remember seeing that a group of investors and companies were looking to sponsor some well-needed British challengers, with full prize money and even +H. Yet the LTA's agreement with Aegon prevented this. More money and more points gone from the British players, and this is a pretty common thing apparently.

 

[booson]

Becoming a professional tennis player is very expensive, and the costs of equipment, coaching, travelling (a huge killer) and nutrition have all increased with inflation over the past 20 years. However the prize money at challenger, future, satellite events etc. has barely increased at all in that time.

Agreed. This is a worrisome trend where over time, necessary investment increases faster than possible revenue. The funny thing is that, overall, tennis isn't gaining less money than 20 years ago. So, the logical thing to conclude is that most money is getting 'stuck' somewhere.

 

[Tennismint]

When last did you personally go watch a futures or challenger event live?
How many people were there watching?

It doesn't really matter. I'm talking about tv exposure. Watching tennis on tv is a bit more convenient than going to an event.

 

[Tennismint]

Stakhovsky broke even shortly after defeating Federer at Wimbledon. This was after a long long time on the Tour. He broke even.

They should go on strike. Let's see how the top 10 can organize a grand slam.........

 

[Tennismint]

Very true. The PGA (and EU tour) have done a great job; they have stars - but still make the other events good entertainment. The ATP and WTA are completely star driven. ATP should be very worried about the post-Big 4 era.

The comparison with football - EU's biggest sport by far - are useless. Team sport and near religion.

I think the commentators are a problem, too. Noone is actually explaining the sport to amateurs and tennis fans. Most of the time it's just random nonsense.
Rather than promoting the players, they are more worried about what opinions players should be allowed to express without having to worry about being fined. You won't have another Agassi, and Federer is not the most interesting or charismatic out there on the courts....