August 25, 2008
Building A Tennis Career From The Bottom-Up
By Jeff PyattBeginnings are always delicate times - especially when beginning a career in professional tennis.
For Amer Delic, the first difficult decision he faced involved his professional status itself. After his junior year at the University of Illinois in 2003, during which he won the NCAA national singles title, Delic was uncertain if he wanted to return to school or turn pro. Leaning toward heading back to Illinois, he opted to play tournaments that summer - including the US Open - as an amateur. In doing so, he received none of the prize money (about $30,000 total) that he would have otherwise earned.
By fall of that year, however, Delic had changed his mind. In October 2003, he entered his first tournament as a professional - a Future's event in Lubbock, Texas, considered the lowest tier of professional tournaments - where he was knocked out in the opening round and received a $187 paycheck for his trouble.
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
Naturally, we are more attuned to the world of the elite tennis player who, through tournament earnings and lucrative endorsements, accumulate cash by the millions. For those fortunate enough to reach pro tennis' stratosphere, paying the bills is not a problem. Instead, their biggest challenges, beyond intense training, become those of a celebrity: manage their image; protect their privacy; enhance their legacy.
But for players like Amer Delic, currently ranked 127th in the world, good enough to play with the very best, but not (yet) good enough to earn money like the very best, the concerns are more basic: How will I pay the bills? Where is the best opportunity to earn money? How can I make a little extra money? And how can I save a little extra?
Unlike many of the tour's top players, those outside the top 25 usually make the majority of their money from tour earnings, not endorsements. But to get paid to play in a tournament, they have to get to a tournament. And because travel doesn't come cheap, just getting around is first among the players' financial concerns.
"Everything comes out of my pocket and it has since day one," explained Delic, who estimates that 40 to 45 percent of his 2007 earnings went toward the costs of getting to and from tournaments. "You see the prize money earned, but nobody looks at how much money you pay for expenses - cost of traveling, cost of coach's travel, food, hotels, rental cars, coach's salary, coach's bonus and whatever else comes up, and something always does."
The expensive vagabond lifestyle of tennis players is a reality that those around the game are acutely aware of, and various programs exist to help players ease the financial burden. In some countries national sports federations chip in. In other countries, players depend on private sponsors. In the United States, Delic, along with a handful of other up-and-coming American players, benefit from a $7,500 USTA grant to pay for travel and coach's costs.
Further, the ATP guarantees five nights in a hotel for players who make a tournament's field. "But," said Delic, "you're not always guaranteed a spot in the field." Sometimes, after showing up at a tournament, some players have to enter qualification rounds. If they don't qualify, they don't get the free five nights and have to pay for a place to stay until the next tournament.
Sound rough? Well, it might get worse for the tennis journeymen.
In the past few years, the men's and women's tours have had problems getting its star players to show up to a requisite number of tournaments. While this may be a problem from the perspective of tour officials -- as well as the fans' -- it has been an opportunity for lower ranked players. When faced with the decision of playing in a lower profile tournament or traveling to a higher profile tournament with a bigger payout with the hopes of qualifying, journeymen have routinely picked the latter with the reasonable expectation that enough higher-seeded players would drop out so that they would earn an automatic bid.
Both the tours have taken steps to address the problem. For example, to get its stars to show up the WTA has announced that it will increase prize money for winning premier tournaments and establish penalties for not attending. Better attendance from stars, however, means fewer open spots for lower ranked players, who will have to be more strategic when choosing between tournaments.
Delic, however, wasn't naive or unprepared for the grueling nature of the tour. He has been fortunate to benefit from the experience and wisdom of his friend Todd Martin, who retired in 2004 after earning over $8 million in 14 years on the tour.
"Todd doesn't say much, but when he does, you better listen," said Delic. "He told me, 'whenever you're done playing tennis, you're still going to have to work.' That kind of scared me. So I definitely had some idea this wasn't going to be a breeze."
It not only "scared" him, it also ingrained in Delic the importance of saving money when he had the opportunity. And the opportunity came in his first season. After cashing in his anemic $187 check from Texas, Delic had a relatively productive year on tour that included a first-round victory at the US Open worth $25,000.
Those savings were critical this year while Delic recovered from ankle injuries and a recent surgery. Because of financial pressures, many players prematurely rush to start playing again, risking further injury. But because Delic saved much of the prize money from his first year, he has been able to take his time getting back on the court.
But Martin also taught him that there's a balance. " 'Save money but don't cut corners'," Delic said, paraphrasing Martin. "You need to sleep in a bed. If you sleep on someone's couch before a tournament, you're going to get bounced in the first round. And if you're eating fast food everyday, you're not going to last five sets at the US Open."
And playing in the US Open is exactly what Amer Delic will do this week, having qualified with an automatic wild-card slot. It's an opportunity that excites him, even if the money doesn't pile up.
"Some things are just priceless," he said. "I'd rather do this and maybe even make $100 a year after expenses than sit in an office."
