Tennis fails where other sports provide a living for their players.
Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don’t miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO
During the US Open in New York, Vox video sat down with professional tennis players and the head of the Professional Tennis Players Association to explain the pay problem in the top-five global sport. Tennis is unique among other professional sports in how players are paid, what costs they are responsible for, and how they are categorized as independent contractors. The result is that — unless you are consistently among the very top-ranked players like Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and Naomi Osaka — it’s nearly impossible to make a living with income from tennis alone.
Unlike other sports that provide support for people outside the very top performers, tennis leaves them high and dry.
In 2021, Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil co-founded a players organization in part to try to address these issues they believe pose an existential threat to the sport. It’s called the Professional Tennis Players Association, and Vox video worked with it to interview players and the organization’s president to shed light on the structural issues that cause such a pay disparity when compared with other global sports.
The Professional Tennis Players Association site:
New York Times magazine published a great magazine piece on this issue:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/magazine/tennis-players-association.html
And a more recent ESPN piece on the issue:
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/35414286/the-stunning-financial-reality-high-cost-pro-tennis
For a profile on Taylor Townsend:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/sports/tennis/taylor-townsend-australian-open.html
The ATP will be trialing a minimum wage for players starting next year:
https://www.reuters.com/sports/tennis/atp-trial-minimum-wage-initiative-2024-2023-08-23/#:~:text=For%202024%2C%20the%20levels%20are,players%20who%20meet%20the%20criteria.
Vox is an explanatory newsroom on a mission to help everyone understand our weird, wonderful, complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. Part of that mission is keeping our work free. You can help us do that by making a gift: http://www.vox.com/givenow
Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom
Check out our articles: https://www.vox.com/
Listen to our podcasts: https://www.vox.com/podcasts
source
