How much does it cost to raise a tennis champion?

The earnings of professional tennis players are already counted in millions of dollars. However, equally expensive is training the best players at the highest, world level.

Cheap start to a career

The purchase of an average-class racket, a set of tennis balls and outfit is an expense of several hundred gold. To these costs, we should add the price of a basic group course for a child or the rental of a tennis court. The total amount spent during the first month varies from 400 to 800 PLN.

Along with the progress and increase in the skills of a young player, the expenses for their maintenance in the sport will also increase. In the next stage, it is necessary to invest in some individual classes, which will be held 2 to 3 times in 7 days. This type of meetings can cost in the largest Polish cities about 1000 PLN.

You must also add to your bills the cost of entry fees for tennis tournaments, which in Poland usually amount to about 100 PLN, abroad up to 30 euro. In addition, you should include the amounts spent on travel or accommodation.

Hiring a personal tennis coach is another expense at the initial stages of the career of a professional player, and the hiring of such a person may cost a total of several to several thousand zlotys. In total, the first few years should close in expenditure to 50/60 thousand zlotys.

Additional sources of income

The initial stage of career development is not only expenses and investments of thousands of zloty. Winnings in tournaments are worth more and more money, so it is worth to participate in a large number of competitions, both at the amateur and professional level. The prestige of sports events is also increased by sponsors, who, after successful performances of young players, may invite them to permanent cooperation.

Another source of income for a young tennis player may be foreign and domestic sports scholarships, which enable not only career development and improvement of sports skills, but also finance work and training of the most promising players. An important aspect of the development of young tennis players is also the support of sports organisations and well-known philanthropists, specialists and tennis lovers.

A good example of such sponsorship is the PZT Prokom Team, which has brought up under its wings a group of the best Polish tennis players, including Łukasz Kubot, Agnieszka Radwańska and Jerzy Janowicz.

Constant investment

Changes of rackets, new sets of balls, another outfit and professional shoes are sports equipment for which there is always a lack of money. On top of that, there are the costs of foreign trips, which for a young player start around the age of 12. Fees for room and board, transport to the place of the tournament and moving around a foreign country are only a few of the costs that parents of a future professional tennis player have to reckon with.

In the case of young football or volleyball players, all such expenses are borne by the club hiring the player. In individual sports, such as tennis, these costs are passed on to the player himself or to the parents who support him. In an interview given a few years ago, Jerzy Janowicz’s father admitted that for the maintenance and upbringing of a professional tennis player he spent about 2 million zlotys.

This estimate coincides with the results of a study conducted in the UK. The English Tennis Federation has calculated that the creation of a professional tennis player in their country costs more than 306 thousand pounds, or about 2 million zlotys.

Cosmic revenue

As admitted by the former tennis player Joanna Sakowicz, noticeable earnings from playing tennis will appear at the moment of promotion of the player to the group of 250 best players in the world. International ranking generates real income and helps to make a living from professional sport. A ranking of around 100th allows a player to survive safely, and a position above 50th gives a player colossal earnings.

An additional aspect of being among the world’s top tennis players is that the tournament organizers also provide hotel, transportation, and food for the duration of the stay and play. The best tennis players are paid several million dollars or more for specific rounds. One of the record stakes was last year’s prize for winning the US Open Grand Slam tournament, which amounted to over 53 million dollars. That amount was reduced by 3 million anyway due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Featured Photo: Carine06 from UK / Wikimedia Commons