'Difficult to earn money' - Players' reactions to Dominic Thiem's views on a tennis relief fund

Travelling the world, playing the sport you love, picking up massive cheques. The life of a tennis professional must surely be a magnificent one.

Well, perhaps at the top. Sofia Kenin and Novak Djokovic, the Australian Open champions, got A$4,120,000 (or just over £2.1 million) for their efforts in January this year. Even the first-round losers would have taken home A$90,000 (about £46,000), and if they lost in the first round of qualifying - not even making it to the main draw - they'd have made A$20,000 (just over £10,000).

Not bad, eh?

Not so much. Grand Slams might be glamorous and offer the opportunity of a big payday, but they come round four times a year. The rest of the time, players lower down the rankings are looking at tournaments which have total prize funds of $125,000 (around £100,000). That's the collated prizes on offer to all players in the draw - not the amount the champion will get.

Take out the massive costs of being a tennis player and that prize money at the lower end of the scale starts to look a little dicey.

With that being the case, lower-ranked players are unlikely to have vast amounts of money in savings - and they'll be suffering financially during this time when there are no events at all. That's why the Big Three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer suggested that the Top 100 pay into a relief fund, to help out those lower down the ladder.

The translated quotes are fairly unequivocal.

"None of the lower-ranked players have to fight for their lives," the Australian Open runner-up said. "I've seen players on the ITF Tour who don't commit to the sport 100%. Many of them are quite unprofessional. I don't see why I should give them money.

"I'd rather donate to people and institutions who really need it. There is no profession in the world where you are guaranteed success and high income at the start of your career. None of the top players took anything for granted. We all had to fight our way up the rankings."

World number 239 Dustin Brown wrote on social media that he had begun his career living out of a camper van, adding that a first-round loss at a tournament would earn him just $117.50, which would then be taxed. He also revealed that he would string other players' rackets for them in order to make some extra money, and concluded: "If this [pandemic] would [have] happened then, it would have cost me my career!"

Lots of players have welcomed the concept - but also expressed their dismay that it would even be necessary in such a cash-rich sport, adding that prizes need to be more fairly distributed.

"I'm almost hoping that it hits rock bottom," said Noah Rubin on Eurosport's Tennis Legends vodcast. "Through the conversations I've had so far, I'm worried. I'm worried about the state of tennis when we're coming back.

"Once we work together and come together, there's a bigger pot for all of us. We can all win, working towards the common goal of growing tennis...I'm sure Grand Slams are sick of being the one place where people make money."

In fact, even before the coronavirus pandemic, there was a growing swell of discontent about the uneven distribution of prize money on the tennis tour, with Darren Cahill, Simona Halep's coach, pointing out the inequalities.

The USA's Nicole Gibbs - ranked world number 148 - responded to his observation, saying: "Let’s also take a moment to acknowledge that in this case 'lower ranked' applies to the 31st-ranked player in the world (the cut for that event). Rest of us making pennies."

It varies massively - but it's important to remember that tennis players also have to spend a lot of money to keep themselves on the tour. That's why they're hugely dependent on their prize money. They have to pay for travel, accommodation and coaches - so often they're left with very little after coughing up for those. (That's also why it's often those from comfortable backgrounds or who have family members who can financially support them or coach them who rise to the top of tennis - they might not have to shell out quite so much cash themselves. Plus of course it takes a lot of money to even get good enough to play club level tennis when there are membership and court fees to pay.)

Great Britain's Harriet Dart gave an eye-opening interview before Wimbledon in 2017, revealing that she still lived at home with her parents at the age of 20. Then ranked at around world number 278, she had not yet made any money from her life in tennis, playing smaller Challenger events just below the big WTA marquee tournaments that offer the big prize money, but whose entry places are snaffled by the big-name players.

"You're trying to make more money than you spend in a week,” she told the Independent. "Especially at Challenger level, it’s very difficult to earn money.”

She also talked about the need to take risks when booking hotels or flights, finding flexible rates whenever possible, and saying: "You pay for your hotel, you pay for your flights, your food, and then if you get your coach to come you pay for all of his expenses plus his fee. It’s why I’ve travelled a lot on my own."

Tennis coach and former management consultant John Peters estimated in 2017 that it costs around £2,500 per week to play tennis on the professional tour - and the prize money, as Brown and Dart have made clear, is unlikely to be anywhere near that much below the biggest events.

Perhaps a relief fund - reliant on the charity of the most successful players - isn't the best way to go long-term, with reform of prize money certainly needed in the near future. After all, no matter how attractive the stars of tennis might be to the viewer or the paying fan, they need to have some opponents - and the lower-ranked players need to be able to make a living too.