There is a lot of talk in tennis about inequality between men and women. Serena Williams’s coach Patrick Mourtoglou went to another level with his statement.
The problem of low ranked players
Tennis is one of the most followed sports all over the world. However, for some “strange” reasons there is a huge inequality between the top players and the rest of the field. Usually, a tennis player that is outside the top100 struggles from a financial point of view and this cause big problems to his or her performance.
This problem is exacerbating now during the Coronavirus pandemic. In fact, with tennis halted, low ranked players are getting more and more nervous about the fact that they cannot create income.
Patrick Mouratoglou is extremely knowledgeable about this problem to release the following statement on Social Media:
“Our sport is great. Yet, the challenging period we are facing only emphasizes how dysfunctional it is.
Players ranked outside the top 100 are barely breaking even and most of them are forced to fund their careers to keep playing professionally. Their lives are a financial struggle.
Unlike basketball or football players, tennis players aren’t covered by fixed annual salaries. They’re independent contractors. They’re paying for their travels. They’re paying fixed salaries to their coaching staffs, while their own salaries depend on the number of matches they win. It’s a meritocracy-based system — which is perfectly fine to me. Top players 100% deserve their earnings.
However, I find it revolting that the 10Oth-best player of one of the most popular sports in the world — followed by an estimated one billion fans — is barely able to make a living out of it.
Per former top 10 player Tim Mayotte, “you would have to make about $200,000 a year from prize money and/or endorsements to make a living wage.
Per current world No. 225 Noah Rubin, “for somebody outside the top 50 or 100, you don’t have many sponsorships off court, and if you do it’s minor, you can’t live off them. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.”
So, what happens when players are forced out of work for an undefined period of time? Well, they don’t get paid. Some of them are giving up on their dreams and are calling it a career.
It’s been the case for too long. Although we have done away with the long-established male supremacy in the financial field, tennis remains one of the most extreme levels of inequality in any sport.
The thing is, tennis crucially needs them to survive. Tennis can’t live only off its elites. The tours would atrophy.
Last year’s ITF reform, which fortunately was canceled just months after being passed, made the situation of those players outside of the top 100 almost impossible to handle. Many of them decided to give up tennis simply because there wasn’t any other option.
Currently they are going through a new challenge: Because the tour is on pause for the reasons we all know, those players do not get any income, and unlike most top 100 players, they do not have any money on the side or sponsorships deals to live on.
It is time to think about those players and help them, first in the immediate future, then in the long-term.
For this reason, I would love to see the ATP, the WTA, the ITF and the Grand Slams sit together (albeit virtually) to try and find a sustainable solution. We all rely on those governing bodies, who have the power to protect the professional tennis economy and hold social responsibility.
I would love those institutions to say STOP. We can’t leave lower-ranked players behind anymore. This isn’t right. Tennis needs change. Let’s use this free time to start a discussion.
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU”
My letter to the tennis community to raise awareness about the current situation of players out of the Top100. pic.twitter.com/mFTIECxOFL
— Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) April 7, 2020
Serena Williams’s ranking and performance in 2020
Ranked world no.9, Serena Williams played her last match on the 8th of February when she surrendered to Anastasija Sevastova 7-65 3-6 7-64 in the Rubber 4 of the Fed Cup.
Presently, this year Serena Williams has a 8-2 win-loss record. The American clinched 1 title in Auckland.
