By Andrew Eichenholz
The 128 men and women who crash out in the first round of the French Open later on this month will not be losers at all. They will be walking off the court to pick up their loser’s check of more than $30,000, or 27,000 euros.
The ITF announced on Monday that they would be slowly rolling out a prize money increase on their Pro Circuit for events throughout the next two years. Next year, the men’s $15,000 prize fund events will grow to $25,000, while the $10,000 total tournaments will rise to $15,000 in 2017.
That is not enough.
On the women’s side, each tier will see a prize money increase of at least 20 percent, with the exception of the $25,000 events, which will coexist with the current $15,000 tournaments at the same $25,000 fund.
That is not enough.
To put things in perspective, back in 2011 and 2012, Tulsa alumnus Arnau Brugues-Davi set a record on the ITF Pro Circuit. The Spaniard won 44 Futures matches in a row across nine tournaments, falling in the finals of the last one. Yet, total the checks that he picked up after each and Brugues-Davi had $13,900 in his pocket.
No, that does not include any taxes taken out, fees for coaches, cost of living, so on and so forth. Brugues-Davi may have broken a record, but for 45 matches played, and countless hours of time on the tennis court, he won just about $316 per match.
So, when the likes of Mikhail Youzhny, a former top-10 player who gets into pretty much any tournament of his choosing based on past results, goes 5-10 to start his year, there is a pretty devastating statistic for those grinding it out on the lower rungs of the tour.
Youzhny has lost two matches for every one he has won, yet has racked up $130,380 so far this season.
That, for those who are counting, is $8,692 per match on average. Keep in mind, one is for almost exclusively losing, the other for pretty much always winning.
Many will argue that the discrepancy in funding for levels of the professional tennis circuit are justified— the best players deserve the best money.
However, the best always have to start somewhere, and there will come a point when a future star will be missed because they struggle at the beginning of their careers, and cannot afford to keep pushing forward.
Victor Estrella Burgos was one of the feel-good stories of the 2014 season, but his journey is more of a wake-up call for the rest of those trying to make it. Estrella Burgos earned his first singles ranking point in 2002. It took him until March of 2014 to break into the top-100. During that time, 12 years of struggling, Estrella Burgos made $525,690. In the last year and a half, he has already made $348,754. That is the difference in tiers of the ATP World Tour.
Not everyone will be able to wait that long to prosper.
