WORLD No.1 Ash Barty capped off a brilliant year this week with a win in the Women’s Tennis Association final in Shenzen.
It not only confirmed her status as the best female player in the world, but it gave her bank balance a healthy boost.
The Queenslander pocketed a cool $6.4 million for beating Elina Svitolina in last Sunday’s final, the biggest prize purse in tennis history.
Nothing against Barty, she deserves all the accolades and trimmings that come with being the highest-ranked player in the world, but I have to question whether this sort of money is a bit excessive.
There seems to be no balance in how prize money is distributed in tennis.
Recently in Bendigo, young aspiring players were battling it out in an Australian Money Tournament.
The prizemoney for winning the men’s and women’s singles event was $400, second got $150 and the semi-finalists each received $75.
How is this an incentive for players to stay in the game considering three nights’ accommodation costs more than the winner receives? It doesn’t provide much encouragement for our next generation of players.
It seems the only way you can make it nowadays as a tennis player is to have very supportive parents and family or be one of the lucky few who receive funding through other sources.
I’m not saying tennis doesn’t have pathways for young players – it does – but the equality in prizemoney from the elite level to the lower competitions is completely out of whack.
Tennis has no second or third-tier competitions to provide players with the opportunity to win enough money to allow them to play and train full-time.
If you have aspirations of becoming a professional tennis player and don’t have the financial backing, the best alternative is to head to the US to play college tennis.
It seems strange some of our best junior players are forced to leave Australia to seek the support of another country’s system to achieve their goal.
But that is what is happening.
Players just can’t earn enough money to support themselves to be full-time professionals.
Other sports, like cricket and football, are much better at keeping young players in the game. In football you have the SANFL, VFL and WAFL, which provide an alternative for players who might be overlooked in the draft.
Cricket has the Sheffield Shield, which is a great pathway for players and allows them to play and train full-time, providing them with the opportunity to live their dream of becoming full-time professionals.
Maybe it is time sports like tennis that have no shortage of funding at the top level had a look at how to filter some of that money back down through the lower ranks.
It’s not only an investment in the game, but it might keep a future champion playing.
