Thread by @CatfishSC, Going a bit off-brand, but I need a break from staring at [...]

Going a bit off-brand, but I need a break from staring at SC stats.

There's been a lot of chat lately about the fact that R1 losers at #AO2021

still receive $100k and how precious they were about the quarantine drama.

Not defending that, but just some perspective - a thread.

Tennis is arguably one of the hardest possible sports to become successful at an elite level in. It sounds like a dream, right? Travelling across the world while playing tennis, making megabucks and getting to enjoy life luxurious in five star hotels, right?

I played competitive tennis at high school level, but I was never anything special. I knew from a really early age that any dreams I had of being the next Michael Chang (yes, he was my tennis hero as a kid, no prizes for guessing why) were just that, dreams.

It was apparent early on about how miniscule the chances were of me succeeding as a pro tennis player. And I won't bore you any further with my personal journey, but I just to put some context into how hard it is to qualify for a Grand Slam like #AO2021

in the first place.

128 players play in Round 1 of #AO2021

; the 104 top-ranked and available players, 8 wild cards and 16 qualifiers. Wild cards are usually handed out to top level players or promising Aussies returning from injury (.e.g Andy Murray and the Kokk) or some up-and-comers.

Another 128 players fight it out for one of the 16 qualifier spots - again, usually the next 120 highest ranked players and 8 wild cards again (usually Aussies, for #AO2021

being the home tournament). The cut off is somewhere around 250ish, ranking wise before the wildcards.

So basically, you had to be ranked somewhere around the top 250ish players in the world, just to have a sniff at making R1 of #AO2021

and make $100k minimum for losing. To be ranked thereabouts, you need approx. 220 ATP Tour ranking points to be in the mix.

Currently there are 1700+ players on the ATP Tour (for the men) with at least 1 ATP Tour ranking point. How many points do you earn for paying in the various tournaments throughout the year? There's a whole hierarchy, this screenshot probably summarises it best.

For further context, players ranked in the 700/800s have about 30 or so points, and they play anywhere from 10 to 30 tournaments just to get to 30ish ranking points. Most of these guys are playing Futures tournaments, which obviously don't pay much as prize money.

At these lower levels, they don't get sponsorships, endorsements, etc. They pay their own entry fees, flights, accom, food - it can cost a player $1.5k to $2k of their own money to enter a tourney that they may potentially only win $2.5k at if they win all their matches.

That's the winner, they may break even on the costs of attending the tournament, but no way that covers the cost of hiring practice courts for hours, buying tennis balls, racquets, restringing, shoes, etc. for all the hours of practice they go through, just to be competitive.

The most valuable part of that is the potential 10, 20 ranking points they can earn, just to push their ranking high enough to be able to enter the next tier of tournament, where more ranking points are on offer. They're still not making any money at this stage; they're losing!

That grind, 10 - 30 tournaments a year where you might lose in your first match and get nothing, and maybe get lucky and can earn enough points to enter the better tournaments. Do that repeatedly, you might get to the top 250 in the world, within range of Grand Slam qualifying.

Players around the 200-250 mark might earn between $150k to $200k a year, but after expenses, it's about $60k (assuming USD on those numbers). Imagine grinding like that, but still maybe only making $60k a year, and only getting that much if you win enough matches.

What's wild is that these ranking points only last for 12 months. You have to 'defend' your points earned the year before - if you don't enter the event again and make the same stage that you lost at, you actually lose those points and it impacts your ranking.

So not only do they have to grind all year long, they have to be able to do that repeatedly, and pray for a sponsorship or endorsement to lessen their expenses and convert more of their prize money into earnings. If they can't keep it up, they'll drop back 100s of rankings.

But for those who are able to get consistently good enough to win enough matches at Futures and the lower Challenger events to keep themselves ranked around the 250 and higher mark, well, they get a shot at the Grand Slams, if they maintain their ranks prior to each major.

So they get to maybe play in Qualifying, where they fight for the chance to make R1 of the Main Draw, and potentially make $100k for losing. It sounds incredible right, they play a tennis match, losing in 90 minutes but walk out $100k richer. But it's really not that simple.

The truth is, the vast majority of pro tennis players never make a Grand Slam. The players who even make it through to qualifying are already the best of the best. The players who actually consistently make the Main Draw of events like #AO2021

already are the elite.

To me this just highights how incredibly talented the likes of Tomic and Kyrgios are, for their apparent lack of effort to get to where they have gotten - you can understand why their attitude can really get under the skin of other players, and frustrates so many around them.

But they have undoubtedly still worked hard, harder than the most 'regular' people have ever worked in their life, because just getting to stand on the stage that they play on, takes so much practice and dedication to begin with.

This ends my TED Talk, thanks for reading

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