walkover anyone..!!

Harsh · Post by **Harsh** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:48 am

The tournament director was firm with keeping the doubs final on sunday, and so we just have to wait around here for an extra day. At the futures level unless we win the match tomorrow, we will actually have lost money by staying for extra days, and I think that tournament directors at tournaments such as these need to realise this. Its ok if this is a tour event, but its not like we have thousands of spectators here or anything like that. I mean most players at this level play doubles in order to make a little extra money and get some more practice on the courts. His concern was that if one of the guys in the singles final defaults or if the singles final is one-sided then it wouldn't be enough tennis on the sunday. Well then if thats the case why don't they increase the money in doubles? Most club level players play doubles and its exciting for them to watch doubles, then why is there such a discrepancy between prize money in singles as opposed to doubles? Even the prize money structure in the futures to my mind is flawed. The difference between losing in the semis and losing in the finals is $50. That means effectively if one loses in the final he makes only $50 more than the semi-finalists. The difference between the winners and finalist is almost $475, which means the winners make about $250 more approximately. The fact is that because of a sunday final, we have to stay 3 extra nights which comes to $150 and then you have to add the food etc etc, and unless we win we would like I said have lost money. Should a player who makes the finals of a professional tournament end up losing money? I mean isn't this absolutely absurd..?

The money in doubles at the futures level is really ridiculous and thats why there are so many walkovers etc because it doesn't make any financial sense for players to hang around for doubles. Now when you compare the kind of money we get paid at this level to the guys at the top, there is really no comparison. Granted that the quality of tennis at that level is higher by a few notches, but when you compare the prize money the difference is night and day. There is no monetary incentive to play doubles for players at my level. In one sense doubles at this level can't survive with the current conditions and its a shame because in my mind doubles is a fun sport, its fun to watch because of the team concept, there is a lot of action going on and one gets to see a variety of shots and plays, and most importantly most of the 35+ generation play doubles and its a great way for them to learn a thing or two and its something they can translate directly to their tennis.

The truth is that the pro tennis tour is a system where players come and play and if you don't rise to the top you get pushed out. Its not a system that concentrates on creating a wide base of players and then formulating into a pyrimid like structure with players with better skills rising to higher levels. The tennis system focuses on and around the cream, while the rest are left to fend for themselves. Among those that are part of that 'rest', some keep battling on and battling on and keep hoping for that 'one day' to come by, while others simply have to give up and leave the sport because they can't sustain themselves anymore. To my mind it is a shame that the system can only sustain 100 to 200 players. Tennis is a worldwide sport, its played at all levels, its widely watched, and it is only capable of sustaining such a small amount of players.. there is something wrong here.. it doesn't make sense to me that I can make the finals of a pro tournament and end up losing money. In such a scenario is it fair then that the Wimbledon champion gets a million dollars (or how much ever he or she gets), I mean can't there be a better distribution of prize money throughout the tour. I guess in the current scenario this is not the case and who knows whether things will ever change. The fact is that tournaments such as these will continue to see numerous players pulling out and numerous walkovers in the doubles draw, and players making the finals only to meet a mere quarter of the expenses incurred in getting there...

harsh.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 3:26 am

Very well put, Harsh. It is absolutely ridiculous that one actually loses money by sticking around to play the finals. You have nicely laid out just how tough it is to survive in the lower reaches of the pro circuit.

vishnureddy · Post by **vishnureddy** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 6:03 am

It's ridiculous that a player actually loses out on money if he decides to stick around to play a doubles final

. Great to hear from a pro on how tough it is to play in lower tier of pro tennis. Hope the situation changes soon .

On a sidenote Harsh, you have great writing skills

. You should write columns for media if you could after tennis.

Good luck in Busan Challenger

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:10 pm

Harsh, your notes in this forum are teaching the arm chair critics like us what it takes to make a living in pro tennis. We have a better appreciation now about victories and losses, joys and sorrows, happiness and frustration, and the highs and the lows of a modern pro-tennis player.

Thanks for the insights. Your postings have been an eye opener.

suresh · Post by **suresh** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 3:31 am

Harsh, You have addressed a request of mine sometime back on this forum to Jay
to get one of the Indian players to give us insights into the day to day problems and
issues that tennis players (and other professionals) face. As has already been
pointed out by others, you really write well which helps a lot. I am sure, at the very
least, the next generation of Indian tennis will benefit from your writing on this forum.
I also hope that the big honchos of tennis also get to read some of your postings
and react in a positive manner to them. Also, your work ethic as well as positive
attitude which is always ever present in your posts will definitely help you in your
career.

Thanks a lot.

nkoth · Post by **nkoth** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 4:38 am

I have to echo BBS and Suresh in thanking you for your wonderful insight into the life of the pro tennis player. It's been an eyeopening experience reading about the trials and tribulations you face on a daily basis!

Can a newspaper column or book be far behind?

Cheers,
-neil

Post by **jayakris** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 5:58 am

Good stuff, Harsh..

I suppose now the readers have an idea why I have always had such a soft corner for a lot of the players and am extremely reluctant to criticize them!

Should probably merge the thread with the Harsh Mankad thread but we should leave it as separate here at least for some time, as it was on a specific topic that HM wrote.

Jay

PS: I have also noticed that HM is one of the very few players who still writes long enough emails with proper grammar and punctuation (actually the only one apart from Leander, who has emailed me only two or three times) .. That does sit well with my academic side

.. Not that I am too anal about it or anything, but it is refreshing when somebody writes emails like old time letters. Getting rarer in these SMS days.

david · Post by **david** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:12 am

Post deleted.

Post by **jayakris** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:00 pm

Since Harsh mentioned walkovers ..

I noticed that Hugo Armando played the Bogota challenger on Monday and lost. He was in the schedule for doubles Tuesday night but gave a walkover and flew out to Indian Wells once he found that he would squeeze into the qualies cut. I don't know how ATP can allow crap like that. He himself could not have given a medical and played the next day at Indian Wells. I suppose he could have paid his partner (Juan Pablo Guzman) and asked that guy to give a medical, which sowuld be leagal.

Anyway, they scheduled an 7 pm tuesday match for him, he came in and upset the 20th seed Taino in a 36 64 64 in the last qualifying match.

ATP does need to cut down on the spuirious medical walkovers in all events. And they fine players who cannot make it in due to Visa problems!

Jay