As the tennis world was getting set for the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monaco in the middle of April, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas was seen arriving in style for practice at the Monte Carlo Country Club in his $1m Aston Martin V12 Speedster along with his girlfriend, Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa.
The scene attracted a lot of spectators as the general public has always been fascinated by the lives of the rich and famous, and tennis has always been associated with wealth and privilege, a reputation that dates back to its origins as a pastime for the European aristocracy in the 19th century.
Tennis associated with wealth and privilege
While a growing number of public courts and programs aimed at introducing tennis to a broader audience than just the absolute elite see the light, tennis still carries some historical baggage as a sport exclusively for the affluent section of the population.
The likes of Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Novak Djokovic have reaped enormous benefits from the game, with millions stashed away in their bank accounts.
The wealth of the world's leading tennis stars is staggering, and they will all be hoping for a share of the record-breaking £50 million prize pot, with £2.7 million reserved for each of the male and female champions when Wimbledon open its gates at the end of June.
But those privileges are a million miles away for tennis youngsters trying to get ahead at the bottom of the food chain. While most people associate tennis with a jet-set lifestyle, champagne and fashionable parties at exclusive locations, the financial realities of trying to build a career as a young talent distort that image.
Massive financial burden on parents
Coaching, training and travel are all very expensive in the budget of up-and-coming youngsters trying to make a career for themselves on the ATP or WTA Tour. If you add that to small pay-outs at lower-level events and a lack of sponsorship opportunities, it produces a persistent financial strain.
What's more, as many children from the age of 10 or 11 years of age have to travel extensively to continue their development and improve their rankings, it puts a massive economic burden on their parents to financially support the high ambitions of their children.
Flashscore spoke to Jesper Bak, the father of Elmer Moller, a 21-year-old talented Danish youngster who, over ten tedious years, has climbed his way up the rankings and is now approaching the Top 100 in the world (currently ranked 111).
Jesper confirmed that parents are under significant financial pressure to provide the foundation for their children to pursue a tennis career on the ATP Tour.
'Elmer’s expenses cost me all the money I had in the bank'
“The demand for parental involvement in tennis is really, really big. If you live in Denmark, you have to look abroad relatively early to improve, in contrast to other sports," says Jesper Bak.
"So in Elmer's case, he has been travelling and playing abroad since he was 11 years old. This means that at the weekend you can't just drive 50 km to a tournament, but have to fly around Europe.
"When he reached the age of 16, we slowly started to attract some sponsors due to his results. But for the first five or six years of his career, it was mainly me who was responsible for financing it."
Elmer Moller received some funding from the Danish Federation, but it was far from adequate to cover his expenses. Therefore, Jesper often worked overtime to secure the necessary funds for Elmer’s travels and need for coaches, while he also travelled with Elmer himself on occasion.
Today, he says that it cost him all the money he had in the bank, but it was worth every penny.
'My bank advisor thought I was out of my mind'
“I can't give you a total of how much money I spent, but I spent all the money I had, and I had a bank advisor who thought I was out of my mind. I walked around in the same clothes for years, and I went downstairs and turned off the oil heater when Elmer was not in the house.
"But the only thing I regret, really, was that I didn't have more money to spend because there were a number of people who helped to make the setup around Elmer more professional, and I could only reward them by saying thank you.”
Former WTA player Katerina Teruzzi, who today works as a media tennis reporter for Flashscore, says that adolescents just can't pursue an international tennis career without massive financial aid from their parents.
“It starts at a very young age, where you have to arrange private tennis lessons with a coach. And as the child grows and he or she plays more, it means more lessons, more costs. Everything rises exponentially."
"Later on, the player starts to play domestic tournaments and after a while, international tournaments. When you reach a certain level, the costs might be shared with the club and the tennis association.
"But as the player gets better, he or she becomes increasingly dependent on parents to provide the setup and the financial help to further his/her career.”
'How many players will get people to turn on the TV?'
“The transition from juniors to seniors is financially difficult - without the ranking, you can’t really choose tournaments, you have to play where you get in.
"It can be far, expensive locations and young players often need to travel with a coach or their mother and father, so the expenses keep rising through your career (until you perhaps reach a level where you become interesting for sponsors or agents),” continues Teruzzi.
Novak Djokovic has helped start the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) in part to help address financial disparities and inequities in the sport.
Some players have suggested a change in the distribution of prize money, which currently favours a very small privileged elite, while a base salary has been floated as a possible solution for players further down the rankings, which could lessen the desperate need for parental financial support.
Despite having been forced to transfer every penny of his earnings into his son’s tennis career, Jesper Bak is, however, not certain that any of those proposals are the right way to go.
“It is correct that when you are further down the system, you fight tooth and nail to survive, to finance, to pay for hotels, flights, coaching and other things. But it provides you with a humility towards the system.”
“In the end, it's TV that pays the bill, and how many tennis players are there who will get people to turn on the TV? Perhaps 10 or 15, and on that basis, it is perhaps very fair that the top eats a very large part of the cake.
"If you want to spread tennis as a profession, you may have to throw some more money at the players who are further down the rankings, but in the end, it is the level of the player that determines where he is in the world rankings, and if your level is high, you will probably fulfil your dreams anyway,” concludes Bak.