It’s Time for a Tennis
Union
By Charles McKenna There are 750 Major League baseball players during the regular season. Lowest paid earn $550,000 per year—the league minimum. In addition, travel and accommodation costs are paid for and the player gets per diem payments when the team is on the road. The team provides training facilities and professional conditioning to keep the player in top physical shape. He has health care and a retirement program. There are 1,696 regular NFL players. The least compensated among them, makes $480,000 per year and, like his baseball contemporary, has all his expenses paid for. I do not begrudge any of these players their money. Even the least of them are incredible athletes who work years to reach the professional level of their sport, and possess incredible talent for which they rightfully should be paid handsomely. As much as each makes, their pay is dwarfed by the owners for whom they 54
toil. They earn millions for their teams and deserve the compensation and perks they receive. Individual sports are a different animal. In tennis, the top players are incredibly well-compensated. The men’s and women’s winners of last year’s U.S. Open, a two-week engagement, each earned $3.85 million. As much as a top player can make in prize money, it is generally less than the sponsorship money that can be made. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka and many other top players make incredible money for playing the game they love. They too earn it and deserve it. The problem with tennis, however, is that those riches are reserved for a very small percentage of the player pool. While the 750th baseball player makes $550,000 and the 1696th football player makes $480,000, the 750th ranked tennis player is undoubtedly in debt. Ilya Marchenko, hardly a household name, is ranked 150th by the ATP, the governing body for men’s professional
New York Tennis Magazine • July/August 2020 • NYTennisMag.com
tennis in the world. The ATP reports that over his professional career, which began in 2006, he has earned just over $2 million which averages out to about $145,000 per year. To the Average Joe, $145,000 is not a bad yearly wage—if it were only for Marchenko. Unlike his football and baseball brethren, he has to pay for his coaching, his travel, his conditioning, and all other expenses. There is no team other than the one he is financially responsible for. He has no medical insurance nor does qualify for a pension. Oh, and if he doesn’t win, he doesn’t get paid. His team, however, does—by him. By comparison, Marchenko is faring pretty well. The woman ranked 150th in the WTA, Varvara Flink, turned pro in 2012. Her career earnings have been $314,746, for a yearly average of just over $39,000 per year before expenses. Thus, after expenses, her wages are analogous to many minimum wage earners in America, if she’s lucky. It’s hard to feel too sorry for Marchenko and Flink because they are doing what they love and chasing their
