Despite Decent Earning, Here's How Tough It Is To Be A Professional Tennis Player In India

Ramkumar Ramanathan was instrumental in India¡¯s Davis Cup win recently. His annual expenses add up to Rs 50 lakh. But it¡¯s not easy in a sport that depends on government funding, and in a country where corporations are reluctant to spend on non-cricket sport.

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Ramkumar Ramanathan was tossed in the air by teammates after he won India the Davis Cup tie against New Zealand last weekend in Pune. A few hours later, the 22-year-old was airborne again, this time on a flight to San Francisco for a tournament. "I was to fly out later but got a wild card entry into the tournament. So, I booked a fresh ticket and left," Ramkumar says from San Francisco. "There was no celebration as such. We just had a captain¡¯s dinner with Anand Amritraj before I left."

That is the life of a tennis player, whether you are Ramkumar or Roger. But Roger is rich. Ramkumar, ranked no. 264 in the world, has earned a modest $201,560 (approximately Rs 1.35 crore) after some six years on circuit. That¡¯s probably Roger¡¯s private jet bill for a month. The amount doesn¡¯t look too bad, but it is not much once you factor in travel costs and coaching fees.

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Ramkumar says, "One of the industry norms for a coach is 1,000 a week as fees, travel and stay expenses and 10-15 per cent of the prize money. But it varies depending upon the scale of the tournament." Last year, Ramkumar played over 20 tournaments, from the qualifiers of big shows like Wimbledon and French Open to smaller events in places like Ho Chi Minh City, Samarkand and podunk towns in America. If he had a coach with him, he¡¯d have paid $25,000 in fees. He made nearly $78,000 in prize money last year, of which about $8,000 would have been the coach¡¯s cut. In all, he¡¯d be paying the coach about $33,000 (Rs 22 lakh plus). Add travel and stay expenses for the player and the coach. And in an ideal world, a physical trainer should travel with him too. Maybe a crore a year would al low him to travel with a trainer as well. But it is not an ideal world. So, Ramkumar says, "Rs 50 lakh would be a good budget."

Joint effort so far, Ramkumar has been financed, at various points, by his father, his own earnings, the International Management Group (IMG) and the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA). The TNTA¡¯s vice-president is Karti Chidambaram, an outspoken tennis buff and the son of P Chidambaram, the former finance minister of India. (Karti once said Ramkumar wasn¡¯t easy to get along with. Asked about the comment, he tells ETPanache, "I said that but that¡¯s his personality. We are not looking for a son-in-law. We are looking for a tennis player.")

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Karti feels players like Ramkumar and Yuki Bhambri, who have potential, deserve funding of around $30,000 (about Rs 20 lakh) a year.

"To support a player of some calibre, you need to give him subsidy," Karti says. "I think players like Ramkumar or Yuki should be given a subsidy of about $30,000. But I don¡¯t believe a player must be completely funded. There must be some pain for him as well. The family must also contribute. If it¡¯s all paid, then it may be taken for granted."

The TNTA has backed Ramkumar for nearly eight years, since the time he was about 14. He has been training at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona since 2010-11. "One year, he was at the academy for about 11 months," Karti says. "TNTA probably spent $30,000 on him that time."

Ramkumar acknowledges the association¡¯s support. "I¡¯m very grateful for all they¡¯ve done," he says. Asked how much the TNTA spends on Ramkumar now, Karti says, "It is need based. We go from quarter to quarter. We also have performance-based incentives."

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Scope for improvement Karti, however, feels that while Ramkumar¡¯s Davis Cup performance is creditable, it came against soft opposition. At 22, he should have been in the top-150 and competing in Grand Slam tournaments.

"It¡¯s a bit disappointing that he¡¯s 264," Karti says. "He needs to work hard on his fitness and his backhand. But the good thing about him is that he has a big forehand, serve and is a fighter who thrives on the big stage. He is not afraid of reputations. When India played Spain in the Davis Cup, he played Feliciano Lopez as a peer (he lost in four sets)."

AITA¡¯s criticism In the recent past, Somdev Devvarman and Bhambri have lambasted the All India Tennis Association (AITA). Karti, too, said the federation had failed in supporting promising players. He says that India can easily afford to back its players, but the AITA hasn¡¯t shown the will. "You need to spend about Rs 3-4 crore a year on about six players. It¡¯s doable," Karti says. "Yuki was a huge opportunity wasted. He was the world no. 1 junior and junior Australian Open champion. Any country with half a tennis federation would call him and say ¡®Hire whichever coach you want and we will pay for him¡¯. What did the AITA do? They don¡¯t have any program to nurture talent.".

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AITA responds To a question on the AITA¡¯s contribution to Ramanathan¡¯s career, Hironmoy Chatterjee, hon. secretary general, said the federation had recommended him for government funding.

"Ramkumar and some other Indian players received some government funding based on the AITA¡¯s recommendation," Chatterjee says. "And this year we are confi dent of more funds from the government for hosting tournaments, so Indian players don¡¯t have to travel as much to earn points."

An official requesting anonymity said the AITA¡¯s main job was to create infrastructure and host tournaments and not doling out cash. He says, "The AITA has to do more, but to say they don¡¯t do anything is unfair. Players can be thankless and forget the help, however small, they received. We had over 20 tournaments in India in 2015, which helped the likes of Ramkumar to be where they are today."