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The new chair of the association that runs men’s tennis wants to share out wealth more evenly Of the top 500 players in the world, the annual median income for men is $124,000 and $80,000 for women.

Andrea Gaudenzi knows the glories and struggles of professional tennis. The Italian player scored victories against Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, two of the game’s greatest champions, before retiring in 2003. The financial gains were not as good as those career-defining wins, though. “It is a bit of an elite sport,” he said. “I was mad when I was playing because you look at soccer players in the second league in Italy. They were making more and I was in the top 20 in the world.” Mr Gaudenzi is now in a position to alter that balance. Last year, he was appointed new chair of ATP, the body in charge of men’s tennis. Alongside other tennis organisations, it is preparing a multimillion-dollar relief fund to prop up hundreds of players suffering a steep loss of income as tournaments have been shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak halted matches, many tennis players were struggling financially.

Big sponsorship deals for stars such as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams place them among the world’s highest-earning athletes. However, the vast majority of professional players below them rely on prize money won from a gruelling and expensive tour of tournaments worldwide. 

Of the top 500 male and female players, the elite group of tennis players in the world, the annual median income for men is $124,000 and $80,000 for women. But the sport’s wealth flows towards those at the top.  About a quarter of professional female players make less than $25,000, below the median salaries of workers in Latvia, Greece and Chile, according to the OECD. 

Meanwhile, a quarter of professional male players make less than $40,000 a year from prize money, roughly equivalent to the wages of a secretary or a truck driver in the US, according to the US Bureau of Labor statistics. 

These earnings do not factor in costs, such as paying for coaching, equipment and year-round travel expenses. An injury that takes a player out of the game for months can be a devastating financial hit. Reaching one of the sport’s four annual Grand Slams — the most prestigious and lucrative tournaments — is crucial to a player’s prospects in continuing on the tour. In 2019, the 128 men and women who lost in the first round of Wimbledon each earned £45,000. Last year’s men’s singles winner, Novak Djokovic and ladies’ champion Simona Halep, took away £2.35m each. The ATP and Grand Slam organisers have responded, steadily increasing the amount of prize money available to players over recent years. There have been larger percentage increases for those knocked out in the early stages of tournaments.

Mr Gaudenzi insists that tennis should be a meritocracy; the better a player is, the more they earn. But he says the coronavirus-induced crisis is resulting in a larger rethink of the sport’s financial inequalities.  “The winner of the tournament needs to earn more than the first round loser,” he said, but added: “You can redistribute the pie more evenly.” 

Source: FT

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For the first time in its nearly century-and-a-half history, Wimbledon was canceled for a reason other than war, scrapped in 2020 on Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic.

With Britain under a nationwide lockdown, the All England Club announced its decision to call off its storied two-week grass-court tennis tournament, something that hadn’t happened to the sport’s oldest Grand Slam event in 75 years.

“It has weighed heavily on our minds that the staging of The Championships has only been interrupted previously by World Wars,” club chairman Ian Hewitt said, “but, following thorough and extensive consideration of all scenarios, we believe that it is a measure of this global crisis that it is ultimately the right decision to cancel this year’s Championships, and instead concentrate on how we can use the breadth of Wimbledon’s resources to help those in our local communities and beyond.”

The momentum swings were mind-boggling, but given it was both their first Grand Slam semifinals, it’s hard to blame either player for any mental desertions and strategy struggles. When all was said and done, Barty played the cleaner match for the longer period, with 40 winners to Anisimova’s 41 errors.

Barty got off to a flawless start, winning 12 of the first 13 points. But instead of closing out the set at 5-0, 40-15, she wavered. Anisimova took full advantage and came storming back for 6-5, by swinging freely and hitting the pristine backhand winners that have taken her this far.

“I felt like that happened really quickly then I went away from what was working,” Barty said. “Amanda was so aggressive, she was able to take advantage of that.”

Barty’s normally steady serve, which was so effective against Madison Keys on Thursday, didn’t hold up against Anisimova, dipping all the way below 50 percent on first deliveries. She still had the early edge in the first-set tiebreak at 4-2, but again, Anisimova surged back, winning five points in a row for the set. With full momentum on her side, the 17-year-old American forged ahead to 3-0, extending her run to 17 straight points.

“I was really happy the way I was able to respond at a set and 3-Love and to really turn the match on its head, even though it wasn’t the best tennis in pretty tough conditions,” Barty said. “That’s probably, yeah, what I’m most proud of.”

To her credit, 23-year-old Barty remained perfectly calm. You don’t get to No. 8 in the world without some belief in yourself. She got on the board for 1-3, and then won seven games in a row. It marked Anisimova’s first dropped set of the fortnight.

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2019/06/ashleigh-barty-amanda-anisimova-roland-garros-market-vondrousova/82399/