Novak Djokovic tops tennis wealthy record loaded with the sport’s icons

There’s a brutally vivid money divide within the tennis locker room and Marcus Willis resides proof {that a} profession within the prime 100 of the boys’s sport could be removed from glamorous.

With $184,265,269 in profession prize-money and plenty of lots of of thousands and thousands greater than that in earnings from offers spawning from his success, Novak Djokovic sits on the prime of the game’s wealthy record.

Djokovic’s nice rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray function prominently within the all-time tennis wealthy record and in the event you take your singles profession into the highest 50 of the ATP Rankings for a sustained interval, your monetary future and that of these round you’ll be safe for years to return.

But beneath that elite degree of the boys’s sport, the game is battling to fund its practically males.

Tennis can not exist with only a handful of gamers competing towards one another each week, with contenders ranked between 75 and 150 within the ATP Rankings a mixture of rising stars and veterans clinging on to their hopes of a comeback.

So many tales have been instructed of the struggles of gamers to interrupt even financially on the tennis tour if they aren’t profitable sufficient matches.

Djokovic has been main the requires more money to drip right down to the lower-ranked gamers and that has occurred lately, with prize cash for these enjoying in qualifying and shedding early in Grand Slam tournaments rising.

“We now have to do a greater job, we’ve to create a greater system for them (lower-ranked gamers) to make a dwelling, not less than break even,” says Djokovic. “In the event you’re 200 on the earth, you’ll be able to’t journey with a coach. This isn’t adequate.”

All within the sport agree with Djokovic’s sentiments, however there’s solely a lot cash to unfold round and on the subject of gamers competing on the doubles tour, that scraps of what stays within the money pot dwindles additional.

Doubles groups competing within the latter levels of Grand Slam are properly rewarded, however these battling to get to that degree depend on cash from sponsors, members of the family and associates to fund their goals.

Tennis Information

British star opens up on his darkest moments… and his rise to the highest 100 of the ATP Rankings

The highest 13 mixed all-time tennis prize cash earners: Novak Djokovic prime, Serena Williams 4th

That has been the story for British doubles participant Marcus Willis, who set out on a dream to interrupt into the highest 100 of the ATP Rankings again in 2022 and accomplished that journey earlier this yr.

His highway to that objective has been laced with challenges and despite the fact that he has received a bunch of tournaments within the second tiers of tennis, he has instructed Tennis365 that his journey has been removed from glamorous.

“And not using a sponsor, it’s unimaginable for somebody in my place to maintain a profession like this going,” Willis instructed Tennis365.

“There may be loads of journey, loads of expense to get to those tournaments. Some weeks it’s important to take defeats on the chin and in the event you lose early in smaller match, you would possibly solely get £600 after which you’re out of pocket for that week.

“I’ve hire to pay each month and a younger household to help, so that you want backing from sponsors to fund this.

“I’ve had loads of stress alongside the way in which. I’ve had sponsors drop out, others are available in and that has been robust. Some individuals promise you sure issues after which don’t ship on them, so you end up needing one other sponsor.

“Even after a yr, I used to be as much as round 200 on the earth, so I didn’t need to cease then. Had I been nonetheless solely 600 or 700 on the earth at that time, possibly I might have stopped.

“There have been some actually difficult instances. You might be sat in a resort room by yourself overseas and you’re questioning all the things. You both sink or swim at that second and I’ve achieved loads of swimming. Greater than I needed to.

“Now I’m planning my subsequent few tournaments, it’s a nightmare looking for doubles companions, discovering time to get within the health club and get into higher form and looking out ahead to the following problem. The tennis world by no means stops.”

You might be inside touching distance of the big-time if you find yourself practising on the identical courts and enjoying in the identical tournaments as the most important stars in tennis, but those that should not profitable sufficient to affix the sport’s elite really feel much more indifferent from the game.

So how can tennis discover additional income to maintain their star names content material financially and nonetheless discover some spare change for individuals who could by no means win sufficient to turn into rich from the game?

“They want to get extra singles guys concerned and that’s tremendous, however they earn a lot from singles and don’t really want doubles,” continues Willis, who performed the nice Roger Federer within the second spherical of the Wimbledon singles again in 2016.

“In the event you elevate prize cash in doubles, chances are you’ll get a couple of extra singles gamers coming into, however I’m undecided that might assist somebody in my place.

“I may play with a singles participant, however we all know that in the event that they go deep of their occasion, they’ll in all probability pull out of the doubles. Are you actually going to danger a singles title if you’re carrying somewhat harm for €300 in prize cash in a doubles match?

“There may be speak of adjusting the foundations so that everybody stands behind the baseline on a serve and it means you get a couple of extra rallies and I might help that. Despite the fact that I like doubles, it’s difficult to look at within the males’s sport if each rally is over after three or 4 pictures.

“I don’t know what we are able to do to actually push doubles. If each week was like Wimbledon, it might be nice, however it’s not like that sadly.

“We all the time get a great deal of individuals watching doubles at Wimbledon, however the actuality is the remainder of the time we don’t get massive crowds.

“I’ve performed Futures finals in entrance of 1 man and his canine. I performed a Challenger last in France and there was crowd within the hundreds watching, however I’ve performed different finals and we had 40 individuals watching.

“They’re attempting their finest to distribute the cash higher, however it’s troublesome. How far down are you able to go? I feel the tennis we’re enjoying deserves more cash for the gamers, however the place is it going to return from? I don’t have the reply to that.”

Willis has set his sights on lifting his ATP Rating to some extent the place he qualifies for Grand Slam occasions, as he confirmed he has managed to maintain his profession with on court docket winnings after a profitable 2024.

“I’ve saved myself going this yr on prize cash, so issues have labored out,” he added.

“It’s a good distance from sharing Airbnb’s in Sunderland once I began out on this journey!

“Now I’m aiming to take that subsequent step and when I’ve come up towards the highest doubles guys, I really feel like I’ve been fairly shut with them. There may be not loads of enchancment I have to make to be with them and I consider I can do it.”

Gamers like Willis maintain the tennis ecosystem wholesome because the greats of the sport want hungry opponents coming by means of the ranks to check their resolve.

How the game can retain the skills of those that don’t fairly make it to the very prime and can’t afford to maintain their careers afloat is a debate that can run and run.