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Corona crisis: minimum wage for tennis professionals? So the second guard goes

Dark clouds are brewing over the world sport of tennis. Image: KEYSTONE

Minimum wages for tennis professionals? The second and third guards are doing badly

The tennis professionals may have to wait a long time before they can start earning money from their sport again. The realization is slowly coming to the fore that help is needed to prevent a clear cut. The question is: by whom?

Anyone who has will be given. The tennis players of France, Great Britain and the USA, who can count on very generous support even in normal times, can once again count on their national association. Several dozen million each spoke as part of a corona aid package for players, coaches, tennis instructors, clubs and sports facilities. You can afford it, thanks to the millions that Grand Slam tournaments generate in profits every year.

Swiss Tennis can only dream of such a blessing. The President René Stammbach waves it away. “Unfortunately, we cannot help all of our players who are affected by this pandemic,” he told Keystone-SDA. The Swiss association also expects to lose income. The longer you can’t play, the bigger they get. “I don’t dare think about the consequences if the whole season were to fail,” he says thoughtfully.

All the laaksonens and vogeles in this tennis world have a hard time

After all, Swiss Tennis is financially sound. For some players who are not among the top earners, however, the crisis will soon threaten their very existence. Stefanie Vögele (WTA 109), Viktorija Golubic (WTA 123) or Henri Laaksonen (ATP 137), all of whom were at least partially in the top 100 last year, earned between $ 250,000 and $ 440,000 in prize money in 2019.

Despite high local taxes, travel expenses and the salary for coach or physiotherapist, you can live on it and occasionally put something aside for worse times like now. As a self-employed person, you should also be able to claim at least part of your loss of income currently through the income compensation.

Thoughts about the future as a professional

The situation is worse for the third category of tennis players. Swiss Davis Cup player Sandro Ehrat, number 393 in the world, told SRF television: “I’m currently worried about my professional career. The situation scares me a little, of course. I also have a family. » Of course, he is concerned about how and whether it will go on, the 29-year-old father admitted to a son.

Exploit in the Davis Cup: Sandro Ehrat beat Slovakian Martin Klizan last September. Picture: EPA

However, the Schaffhauser takes the view that the top stars owe them nothing. Conny Perrin from Neuchâtel, WTA number 255 and currently having a curfew in California, told Keystone-SDA: “I hope that the discussions will lead to improvements for all circuits. ATP (men), WTA (women) and ITF (tournaments in the lower categories). »

Muratoglou brings minimum wages into play

The corona virus exacerbates a crisis that has been smoldering for a long time. Millions are earned at the top, but from around 200 on the world rankings, tennis players fight for survival, even in normal times. The French star coach (including Serena Williams) Patrick Mouratoglou points out that tennis doesn’t just live from its stars. You also have to think about the players behind the top 100.

He imagines a kind of minimum wage. And the Georgian Sofia Shapatava, number 371 in the world and last year with a cash prize of over $ 15,000, requests financial support from the associations in an online petition. After all, other income such as coaching hours, interclub championships or prize money tournaments outside the WTA have dried up.

Aid plan for top earners

At least for men, first aid appears in the pipeline. Various media reported on Saturday of a plan drawn up by the ATP Players Council under the leadership of President Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It provides for an aid fund that the players in the top 100 (plus the top 20 in doubles) should accumulate. The contributions would be between 30,000 (top 5) and 5,000 dollars (doubles and places 51 to 100). The four Grand Slam tournaments are supposed to contribute half a million each, of the ATP Finals at the end of the year they want to pour half of the prize money into the fund. In total, that would be a pot of more than four million dollars.

The goal is to send the players in the world rankings 250 to 700 $ 10,000 each to bridge the current crisis. “We believe that we have to join forces to help these players,” quoted the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe” from Djokovic’s letter. “Many of them are considering leaving tennis because they cannot survive financially.”

Swiss Tennis could offer other help. “If you can play again, we will endeavor to organize several tournaments for the best players in Switzerland,” reveals Alessandro Greco, head of top sport. “Maybe with, maybe without a spectator. But they will want to play competitively before the professional tour starts again. » Greco does not dare to predict whether this will be this year. Despite the help, time is not getting easier for the majority of tennis professionals. (ram / sda)

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