When COVID-19 Stopped Play

The UTR (Universal Tennis Ranking) Pro Match Series is underway. It's the first live pro tennis tournament, which is also being broadcast internationally, since the pandemic stopped play. It is taking place on a private court in West Palm Beach. No spectators will be present and strict health and safety procedures are in place! This shows that it is possible to play tennis without spectators so the Grand Slams could have gone ahead! Besides, lower ranked players have to cope without the buzz of a crowd so it is equally hard for them as it is for top players to play in silence. But if they have to do it why shouldn't the top players! The UTR system has gained support from professional players within the top 60.

The advantage of the UTR Pro Match Play helps every player, unlike the International Tennis Federation which seriously disadvantages newbies and returners who not only pay a tournament fee for the privilege of playing an ITF tournament but they receive no money for their first and sometimes second round match and very little after that. The prize money doesn’t even begin to cover their expenses for just themselves and paying to have a team is out of the question. Previously, ITF players only started to gain ranking points at some point deeper into a tournament, but now this has changed. Currently, ITF players receive hypothetical points for playing in lower tier ITF tournaments irrespective of the round they reach, and merely hope to put enough of these together to gain actual ranking points to obtain an official ranking. This prize money system is untenable because it means you can lose talented players simply because they could not afford it financially. They also get stuck in a rut of being on an alternate list waiting for a last minute go-ahead to be able to compete professionally at all. A tennis career should be for everyone and be complete with pay from prize money and sponsorship for everyone, not a career controlled through their national tennis system which can always potentially introduce bias. Furthermore, it also disadvantages those who have a problematic family life. This situation strains the supportive parent and the whole potential career cannot get off the ground. It is an insult not to pay adults, in particular, starting their tennis career while child stars in the modelling and entertainment industries are paid and, in many cases, extremely well. Change in tennis has been a long time coming! I sincerely hope that it ceases to be a sport for the privileged few who are given the right contacts and contracts to get ahead and become ridiculously wealthy (eg Federer has an estimated net worth of $450 million). The top players are not necessarily the best which is why they become very nervous in the first rounds of a Grand Slam where they meet the lower ranked players some of which are still on the ITF. 

The UTR Pro Match Play, on the other hand, helps every player in the world come back to tennis post lockdown as long as that particular city or state in the US deems it safe to do so. It creates one-on-one match play. The scores are then posted so they count globally towards your UTR world ranking during this transitional period out of lockdown. Whereas the ITF ranking system, used by ITF, WTA and ATP players, are still frozen so no players can play for these ranking points yet. The ITF tour, however, is an all-year round series of tournaments (unlike the WTA and ATP which have a break at the end of the calendar year) so ITF players can potentially earn money and points all year round and restart after lockdown anytime so do not need to be held up by WTA, ATP and Grand Slam calendars.  

I was delighted when the top three ATP players (you’d think it would be the top WTA players who would think of this since women are always depicting themselves as the care-orientated sex) Djokovic (President of ATP), Nadal and Federer asked Grand Slam Boards, ITF, WTA and ATP boards and players in the top 100 in singles and top 20 in doubles to donate (in proportion to their means e.g. top players would donate just $30,000 each) into a relief fund to help lower ranked players until competitive play restarts. They came up with this idea as a way to give financial assistance to lower ranked players who earn nothing when they don't play and when their additional tennis jobs are also impossible to undertake, e.g. coaching. The target amount for the fund was around 6 million, so that every player with a ranking between 250 to 700 receives £8,000 each. There was the odd male player, such as Thiem (whose estimated worth is $24 million), who lacked empathy so disagreed with the suggestion and ensuing scheme, feeling it wasn't up to the players to help poorer players because they are lazy and useless. (Isn’t that what Becker said about Thiem when he yet again failed to win a Grand Slam?) Thiem’s attitude is what causes the world to be divided into those who have too much and those who have too little with the richer thinking they are somehow better and deserve the millions they have. This is not the case. There are many factors involved and hard work and talent only get you so far but not further! The rich become richer. In tennis, for instance, top players were still earning money for advertising products linked to their sponsors during this ‘COVID-19 stop play’ time. So while they are worry free and able to enjoy lockdown as a good time for a rest, lower ranked players are left with enormous financial stress unable to take this time to recuperate from the tour. Some may not even be able to return to the tour and may retire as a result of lockdown, which is a totally unacceptable consequence of COVID 19. This is an important issue first pointed out by Shapatava in her petition to the ITF for financial assistance for lower ranked players¹.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the Czech Republic has led the way and set up 2 exhibition tournaments which have already taken place. The first won by Kvitova, the second, which took place this week, was won by Pliskova. Their winners’ trophies were gorgeous! Also in Europe, another initiative that is taking place this month is Djokovic's Balkan Circuit. Again this gives players the chance to play competitive tennis. It is an interesting, enterprising idea and shows COVID-19 need not stop play!  

¹For more on Shapatava’s petition see: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/26/tennis-players-sign-petition-financial-help-coronavirus-crisis-sofia-shapatava