While top players donate to coronavirus relief efforts and post cooking and workout videos online, lower level professionals are counting the cost of the tennis shutdown with some fearing they will be unable to put food on the table if it lasts much longer.
FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a mask walks past the gate of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, London, Britain, March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
By contrast, Georgia’s Sofia Shapatava, the world’s 375th ranked women’s singles player, has started a petition seeking assistance from the International Tennis Federation for lower-level professionals. In recent weeks, players who would usually be jetting around the world to tournaments have flooded social media with videos of their take on the toilet roll challenge, or their new home workout routines, cooking and dancing skills.
The WTA and ATP told Reuters they were working behind the scenes to help the players. The ITF did not respond to request for comment.Britain’s Tara Moore, who is ranked 447th in singles, earned about $2,800 this year before the shutdown. “It is very weird to listen that professional tennis players struggle with food, but that is reality,” she wrote in a blog.
India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran said a number of players have been dipping into their savings or have had to depend on family to get by during the shutdown, which he hopes will not run as long as six months.
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