When Novak Djokovic stated that only 400-500 people, consisting of women and men who play doubles and singles, can make a living off of professional tennis, the tennis community was shocked and outraged. After all, countless fans have watched tennis legends like Djokovic win millions of dollars at competitive tournaments. However, this success is a mere facade for the sport’s cutthroat nature. 

A professional tennis season usually consists of 250, 500, and 1,000-level tournaments, with the numbers denoting the amount of ranking points a player can receive by winning. In addition to these three levels of tournaments, there are four Grand Slams — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open — that have an enticing award of 2,000 points and substantial prize money. On the ranking system, everyone starts off with the points they received in the past year. However, these points “expire” with time, and players must defend their rankings by winning back these points at competitions throughout the following year.

Though these ranking points may seem insignificant at face value, they provide crucial sponsorship opportunities and, most importantly, job security. If a player is ranked in the top 100, they are likely to be given entrance into higher-level tournaments that provide significant pay. In contrast, players ranked in the top 200s or 300s may struggle to make a living as their prize money at lower-level tournaments sometimes is not enough to pay for their travel, coaches, and physical therapists. Specifically, players in the top 100 make at least $300,000 a year on average, but players just 200 ranking spots down only make around $30,000 a year. 

This eye-opening pay gap is not simply because of a lack of popularity in the tennis industry. Tennis is actually the fourth most popular sport, with approximately one billion fans worldwide. Still, it only grosses less than three billion dollars each year, around half the revenue of other major sports organizations like the National Football League. But this is not the only issue. Compared to more centralized sporting organizations, tennis players get a tiny percentage of the revenue generated from the sport. For example, the National Basketball Association contributes 50% of revenue to its players, but tennis organizations like the Association of Tennis Professionals and the International Tennis Federation only share around 18%. The double setback of making less revenue, and then not even receiving an adequate portion of it, contributes to the current unfair salary situation for tennis players. 

As a tennis player myself, I experience much pressure when playing tennis to win and contribute to my team. This pressure on my part is not comparable to what professional players must endure every single match. During a game, these professionals have constant doubts, worries, and imaginary what-if situations swirling through their minds, while simultaneously juggling a sport that requires precision and focus. Thus, a feedback loop begins, where the prospect of going homeless or losing jobs distracts players from performing their best, further entrenching them in lower rankings. 

Tragically, this ruthless state of professional tennis contributes to financial uncertainty in almost all players’ careers, illustrating the sheer difficulty of pursuing a professional sporting career. Though this pay disparity is still a pressing issue, the efforts of Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in creating the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) have provided a common platform for more people and players to unite against unfair compensation. With this increased and united advocacy, maybe our generation of tennis players will solve the pay disparity, just like trailblazers of the past have tackled issues with the wage gap.

This article was edited by Grace Hur.