106. OVERTIME

Alongside their life on the pro tour, many of the lower/mid level pro players also play money tournaments, and for clubs in National League competitions at home and abroad, to supplement their earnings and help fund their travel and competition costs – ‘overtime’ in other words.

Money tournaments are staged in many countries across the world but I guess the ones closest to home are the British Tour and Progress Tour events in the UK, and the local competitions staged in clubs in countries such as France and Germany.

The British Tour/Progress Tour competitions are graded and typically it is only the higher level events that tend to attract pro players, especially if they are being staged ahead of a tour level tournament in the UK. The money that can be earned from these events varies but can be quite lucrative for the winners, but there are no ranking points on offer.

Similarly there are money tournaments staged almost every week in some European countries. These can provide pro players with additional, ‘top up’ income should they decide to play, but again no ranking points are awarded. Such events are a good thing if a player is on a training block and wants to get some match practice in before a tour level event, but trying to fit competitions like this into a pro’s annual schedule can be challenging.

With regard to National League events, there are two principle leagues in the UK – the National Premier League (NPL) and the National Club League (NCL). In each case, clubs will enter a team comprising club members, but they may also ask pro players to ‘join’ the club so that they too can represent them, and hopefully increase their chances of making it to the finals. In these instances, the pro players might be ‘gifted’ free membership of the club in question, in return for their participation in a number of matches, as well as an agreement to take part in the finals should the club they represent secure a place.

The NPL and NCL Leagues differ in format from each other and also in terms of the time of year they operate. The NPL is a doubles based competition (two pairs) and typically takes place in the winter/spring, culminating in Finals Week in late May/early June. The NCL by contrast, is a singles and doubles competition, with four singles matches and two doubles. The NCL matches are played throughout the late spring/summer months, with a finals weekend in early September.

Pro and club players who take part in these competitions typically share the prize money on offer in the finals. In the both the NCL and NPL this year, the winning Club received a total prize pot of £3,000-£3,250 – so not a major sum considering that this has to be distributed to all those who played on the team.

The Club League competitions in Europe are far more extensive and many pro tennis players are recruited to play for clubs in countries such as Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy and the Czech Republic, to name a few. These leagues are hugely competitive and the clubs offer significant sums of money to players to represent them. Pro’s playing for the lower leagues in Germany, for example, can be paid c.€500-€1000 a match for their ‘work’, plus their travel and accommodation expenses. Higher up the scale, players can command as much as €15,000 per match, maybe even more! Any kind of money earned at these matches is always well received by the players, especially those on the lower level, who are always struggling to make ends meet.

The European Club Leagues are held at various times of the year depending on the country they are being played in and the league in question. Some are played in May, others in July/August and some in November. The issue that players can face however, is the time commitment for the league matches. The income from these matches is good, and essential for many, but a player has to commit to play well in advance and has to forfeit potential income and ranking points from tournaments on the dates concerned. Playing for a European League can mean that a player can potentially ‘lose’ two or three weeks out of her competition schedule, which can be costly to her position on the tour.

One of the upsides of playing league matches however, is the friends that the players can make both at home and abroad. Tennis is such a good sport for this – it is competitive but at league level, it is also incredibly sociable and team mates can become life long friends.

So, the ‘reality’ of all of this, is that the lower/mid level players on the tennis tour often do ‘overtime’ by playing league tennis and money tournaments, to supplement their income and to help cover costs. The higher ranked players have less of a ‘need’ to do this as they are far more financially secure. This is just another example of how tough the pro tennis tour can be as not only do the players who are trying to climb the ladder have to fight to win matches on the tour, at the same time they have to put in the extra hours to secure supplementary income to pay for their chosen career. #realitytennis

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