Is The Pro Tennis Tour Really Tougher?
There is much discussion these days about the depth in professional tennis. Everyone talks about how many talented players there are outside the top ten on both the men's and the women's Tours. On the flip side, Roger Federer has managed to win a record fifteen Grand
Slams over the past few years. When Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova dominated the women's Tour a couple decades ago, everyone commented on how there was no depth in women's tennis. Is the Tour really tougher these days? Is there a double standard regarding domination by top male and female players?
There are many more players ranked today than a couple decades ago. At the same time, while one can debate whether the number 100 player on the men's and women's Tours is more or equally talented to players at the same rank in the past, one thing is true. There may be more players "on the Tour", but there is also MUCH more prize money on both Tours. In addition, there are also many more tournaments throughout the year at the various levels, i.e. Futures, Challengers, main Tours. For example, the week of October 26th, which is very late in the season, there were three 250 level ATP World Tour tournaments with over $2.5 million in prize money and on the women’s side the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha offered $4.5 million. This week there are two 500 level ATP World Tour events offering over $5.5 million in prize money and the women have a second “year-ending” championship at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali offering $600,000 in prize money for the top twelve winners of second tier events.
The competition is fierce at all levels of professional tennis given the pressure to collect ranking points and earn prize money. In end, there may actually be more tournaments and even more ranking points and prize money available for players at all levels despite the "increased depth." Long gone are the days of a simple tennis match in the park…
There are many more players ranked today than a couple decades ago. At the same time, while one can debate whether the number 100 player on the men's and women's Tours is more or equally talented to players at the same rank in the past, one thing is true. There may be more players "on the Tour", but there is also MUCH more prize money on both Tours. In addition, there are also many more tournaments throughout the year at the various levels, i.e. Futures, Challengers, main Tours. For example, the week of October 26th, which is very late in the season, there were three 250 level ATP World Tour tournaments with over $2.5 million in prize money and on the women’s side the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha offered $4.5 million. This week there are two 500 level ATP World Tour events offering over $5.5 million in prize money and the women have a second “year-ending” championship at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali offering $600,000 in prize money for the top twelve winners of second tier events.
The competition is fierce at all levels of professional tennis given the pressure to collect ranking points and earn prize money. In end, there may actually be more tournaments and even more ranking points and prize money available for players at all levels despite the "increased depth." Long gone are the days of a simple tennis match in the park…
|| Comments (0)
