About the Financial Security of Lower Ranked or Injured Players

I promised to tell you about my health condition, after the knee injury that I suffered, but I will do that in a future article with more details (that’s right, sometimes I’m a little bit superstitious).

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I assure you that the situation is improving day by day – I’m in the process of recovery [photo gallery, above] – but I’m still not sure how it will end.

If the recovery is going well, on the other hand, the same cannot be said about the financial aspects of the life of a tennis player sidelined because of circumstances beyond her control.

These days, I read an interview given by the executive director of the association founded by Novak Djokovic – PTPA, which I presented in a previous article -, Ahmad Nassar.

He emphasizes that there is no financial protection for most of the players who are playing on the tour. He wonders what happens to players who get injured or who take a break for an objective reason – e.g. pregnant women – and concludes that there is no system in place to protect them. In a broader context, the PTPA chief executive notes that the financial burden falls always on the player.

I recognize myself in what Nassar said, because I myself had to pay in full for all the treatments I received in order to heal my injuries.

Last month I was talking about the Romanian clubs and the practically non-existent help they offer to their tennis players.
But I found out, again in a hard way, that things are not much better in other places either.

For example, during this period, the contracts for next year’s German Team Championship are renegotiated and the clubs are taking as basis the current player’s ranking to determine the contract amount.
The manager of the club where I have been playing for five years offered me a new contract, but reduced by 40% compared to the last season, because my ranking dropped dramatically, because of these injuries.
This, even though last year I played injured for them, helping the club avoid relegation.
So the player is once again financially punished if he fails to maintain or improve his ranking because of an injury.

On the other hand, a gesture that made me happy and encouraged me in this difficult period came from the team that I play for in Italy.
They invited me to the presentation of the team before the start of their new season in the first league (A1) of the team championships, even though I am in a recovery process right now and I won’t be playing the first matchday.
An appreciation coming from a club that I have been with since the beginning – league C – and I have grown with until now.

But even elsewhere, the support given to players in difficulty or not ranked in the top 100 is not what it should be.

Sumit & Destanee

In India, a country with great social inequalities, but with a very important economy, the first player in the ATP ranking, Sumit Nagal (26 years old), former champion in juniors doubles at Wimbledon, then winner of 4 ATP Challenger titles is facing big financial problems since he got injured a few times. He did not manage to get in form after his return on the tour and dropped in the ranking from 122 ATP (maximum) to 167.
Sumit:

If I look at my bank balance, I have what I had at the start of the year: 900 euros. I am investing whatever I am making”. “I did get a bit of help, I get a monthly salary from IOCL, but I don’t have any big sponsor… I don’t have anything in savings. I am just breaking even”
I feel like I am lacking support despite being India’s no. 1 for years, and I felt no one wanted to help me after my ranking dropped because of my injury. It is so hard to find financial help in India. We lack funding, we lack the system.
(via The Times of India)

As we can see, Sumit points out the lack of a system in the Indian tennis, just as I wrote some time ago referring to the situation in Romania.

But after that post – mid-September – Nagal announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he had signed his first major sponsorship deal, with the American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, Gatorade, much to the excitement of the PTPA CEO I was talking about above and who attributed this success to the interventions of his organisation, Nole’s and Ons’, in particular:

So glad to see this & hope it’s the first of many new sponsors. @ptpaplayers leaders like @Ons_Jabeur & @DjokerNole have recently spoken up about support and getting to a place where more professional tennis players can make a living. Even though it’s an individual sport, it’s a… https://t.co/MpjYU0IHmw

— Ahmad Nassar (@ahmad4athletes) September 21, 2023

Even more surprising is the story of the Australian Destanee Aiava (23 years old). Coming from a country that gave numerous legends, a highly promising junior, she managed to advance in the top 200 WTA in singles (maximum: 147 WTA at only 17 years old) and doubles (maximum: 176), but not higher.

Destanee’s post on social media:

We learn from this that not only the much criticized Romanian Tennis Federation is careless – or powerless – in relation to player’s problems, but also elsewhere tennis players do not get very much financial help.

But we have the chance that very important players not only noticed this situation, but also vehemently defended us.

Credit Foto: @ptpaplayers

For example, Ons Jabeur:

If you know me & you know my personality, I really like to help players. I truly love this sport. I believe the sport deserves much better. Like Novak said, we’re the 3rd most watched sport in the world & barely a few players can make a living out of this. It doesn’t add up.. when you do the math, it’s unbelievable. I see so many players that struggle like I struggled back in the days. For me, for such a beautiful sport watched by a lot of people, there should be a lot more money in it. Money to enjoy the sport & not think about ‘How am I going to pay my coach? I need a physio with me..’ We pay mostly everything. That’s okay & I believe it’s fine. I just feel like maybe the top 500 players should be well paid so they don’t have to worry about money or worry about anything else besides enjoying this sport.
(via San Diego Open Press / @TheTennisLetter)

And finally, the first in the ATP rankings, Novak Djokovic – about whose actions through the PTPA we already discussed – continues his crusade for better conditions.

In one of his many interventions, the already legendary Serbian champion says that it is a failure for this sport that very few players can earn a living practicing it at a professional level.
He adds that only those who have a strong Federation behind them are able to cover their travel expenses and can afford to have a coach or a physiotherapist with them in tournaments. And he adds that more than 90% of them do not benefit from such help:

Coming from Serbia, I didn’t have any of that. Now I have influence, I have power & I want to fight for better conditions. We talk so much about how much money the US Open winners make but we are not talking about how many players, both men & women, singles, doubles, all together, professionals live from this sport. It’s less than 400 players max for a sport that is super global & then it’s one of the most-watched sports on the planet. That’s poor. That’s a failure for our sport. (via @ptpaplayers / @espn)

But let’s end on an optimistic note, because as a result of all the positions taken against this outrageous situation, ATP has already taken the first measures.

The men’s tennis organization, which is anyway the most enlightened of the three and feels acutely PTPA’s pressure (although quite a few women have joined Nole’s organization, Ons among them), took a major step in the right direction and a month ago announced the application starting in 2024 of the Baseline programme:

Credit Foto: @atptour

• the first pillar of the programme, is Guaranteed Base Earnings, guarantees minimum income levels for the Top 250-ranked singles players each season. In case a player’s prize money earnings finishes below the guaranteed threshold, the ATP will step in to cover the shortfall. For the 2024 season, these levels are $300,000 (Top 100), $150,000 (101-175) and $75,000 (176-250)
• the second pillar focuses on Injury Protection, providing support to players who play fewer than nine ATP Tour and Challenger Tour events in a season due to injury. This progressive initiative includes thresholds set at $200,000 (Top 100), $100,000 (101-175) and $50,000 (176-250) in 2024.
• the third pillar, Newcomer Investment, provides an additional boost to up-and-coming players as they push on in their professional tennis journey. These rising stars will have access to $200,000 of funding upon breaking into the Top 125 for the first time, paid in advance of the following season and offset against prize money earnings.
  (source: atptour.com)

Even if it targets a theoretically limited number of players – the ATP estimates that their number will be 35-40 – most of them having access to at least the qualifications of a Grand Slam tournament, this safety net is a first, and very important one, step in the good direction.

A perfectible programme, of course, but which shows that at least one of the world tennis organizations is concerned about this subject.

What about the WTA and, why not, the ITF?