Watching professional tennis on TV can make becoming a professional player look like a dream. Players travel around the world, compete in big stadiums and earn millions of dollars in prize money.

In reality, the tennis you see on TV represents a tiny portion of the sport.

While each of the four Grand Slam tournaments features 128 men and 128 women in its singles draws, hundreds of professionals play at much smaller events around the world. Instead of competing for millions, some are fighting to earn enough money just to pay for their next flight.

Financially, tennis is one of the hardest sports to pursue professionally. Unlike in major team sports, turning pro doesn’t guarantee you’ll make a living.

Professional tennis players are personally responsible for many of the expenses that come with their careers, including flights, hotels, food and transportation. Players also have equipment expenses including rackets, strings and shoes, not to mention physical fitness and coaching fees.

Players like Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, arguably the two best players of this generation, have support teams sitting in their boxes every match. Although these two have to pay their coaching teams a higher amount per year, they are making much more than most players on tour so they can afford to do so. Each of these players have access to multiple coaching staff, which can help improve their overall ability.

Lower-ranked players strive to have those same resources, but affording them can be an issue. Bringing a coach to a tournament doesn’t just mean paying the coach; it also means paying for additional travel expenses. The more people a player adds to their team, the higher the financial burden.

The massive prize money advertised at tennis’ biggest tournaments can also make the financial situation look better than it is for most professionals. The 2026 U.S. Open offered record -breaking prize money.

Prize money distribution also shows how the money in professional tennis is concentrated near the top. In May 2026, the Michigan Journal of Economics reported that the top 50 players earned 60% of the $162 million men’s prize-money pool. That leaves hundreds of other professional players competing for a much smaller portion while paying many of the same expenses.

Even reaching the top 100 doesn’t necessarily provide permanent financial security. Players have to keep earning points to hold their positions, and an injury can stop their points and paychecks.

For players outside the sport’s upper echelon, the challenge is not just reaching a high ranking; it’s staying there long enough to make the financial investment worthwhile.

Felix Mischker uses his YouTube channel, tennis Brothers, to film his journey as a professional tennis player. In 2023, he achieved his goal of earning a single ATP ranking point at an International Tennis Federation tournament in Tunisia.

That point put him on the ATP rankings, but it didn’t come close to paying his bills. His YouTube channel income helped fund his tennis, a cushion most lower-level players don’t have.

So what happens to a player who is equally talented but doesn’t have a popular YouTube channel, major sponsors, or a family capable of financing their career? Kiranpal Pannu experienced just how difficult that situation can become.

ESPN reported that Pannu earned $6,771 in prize money during the 2022 season while spending approximately $34,500, primarily on travel. Pannu tried to reduce expenses by sharing accommodations with other players and earned additional income through temporary coaching jobs. For him, playing professional tennis left him more than $27,000 in the red during the 2022 season.

Despite sitting on $7.7 million in career gross prize money at the time, Andrey Rublev candidly admitted to the press:

“In 2020 I had to pay my team members for five months without competing due to COVID,” Rublev said. “Luckily, I did not have to pay any air flight ticket. I still earned money, but tennis is a very costly sport.”

That is one of the biggest differences between tennis and major American team sports. Once an athlete makes an NBA, NFL or MLB roster, an organization provides much of the infrastructure needed to compete. Professional tennis players operate more independently and must finance significant portions of their careers.

Tennis players operate simultaneously as athletes and business owners. None of this touches the top. Alcaraz and Sinner don’t worry about whether they can afford an economy flight to their next tournament. Successful players can earn millions through prize money and sponsorships.

Professional tennis is supposed to be difficult. Reaching the highest level of any sport should require an extraordinary amount of talent and dedication. I just don’t think money should be one of the biggest things determining who gets enough time to reach it.

Two players can have similar talent, but if one can afford a coach, trainer and a full tournament schedule while the other is deciding whether they can afford their next plane ticket, they are not starting from the same place.

Being a recreational player and a fan who has watched tennis for over a decade, I doubt we’ll ever know how many talented tennis players ran out of money before they ran out of talent.

In most sports, we think becoming a professional means you’ve finally made it. In tennis, becoming a professional is when you find out how much making money from what you love will cost you.

 

Edited by Hunter Romans | [email protected]
Edited by Ellie Quinn and Hannah VanLandingham | [email protected]
Edited by McKenzie Schweitzer | [email protected]