This year’s French tennis Open tournament has, so far, produced its share of upsets. Some of the top names are out and both of last year’s winners are out. Today I witnessed yet another upset, the sweeping victory of 19 year old Sorana Cirstea of Romania who defeated the tournament’s number 2 seed, Jelena Jankowitz. I sat in front of the TV watching the battle, thoroughly fascinated at the tenacity of Cirstea who simply refused to give up on her decision to win. Then I began to think about the money.

Entry fees

The payers who qualify to play in these tournaments have to pay an entry fee. It is probably around the $100 mark and of course they also have to get themselves, their coaches, trainers, physiotherapists, parents, aunts and uncles and other family to Paris and installed in hotels for the 2 week duration of the tournament. The hopefuls among them probably manage this with Personal Loans. The tried and tested players probably have enough left over from previous tournament participation to finance these costs.

They’re not playing for peanuts

The players, from the top all the way down to the lowest seeds, have one eye firmly fixed on the money. They may be sportsmen and make great speeches about playing for King and Country and the Glory of Tennis, but they are professional tennis players and this is their daily work. Imagine playing tennis day in and day out, standing on the court hitting the same shot a thousand times a day until the coach says, “okay, I think you’re getting the hang of it. We’ll do it again tomorrow.” They are playing to win, for King, Country and Money.

Sorana Cirstea

Along comes Sorana Cirstea who has a fair history in the game, she is 19 years old, she wants to win and she puts her entire body and brain into the task. She plays killer tennis, and her unfortunate opponent, the experienced Jelena Jankowitz, who also plays killer tennis, runs straight into a brick wall. Whatever is served to her, Sorana comes back twice as fast and twice as hard. After an almighty battle, Sorana wins. They both earn about $58,000 and Sorana goes on to earn $190,000 for making it into the quarterfinals. Should she continue into the semi’s it will bring her $380,000, the finals $760,000 and if all goes extra well and she wins the tournament, she will go home with one and half million dollars. Who else is making one and half million a year, er… per fortnight, in this recession?

There is a recession on

I thoroughly enjoy watching the tennis tournaments on the TV. It’s a great spectator sport, but there is a small part of my brain that focuses on the money at stake. We are deep in the grips of a recession and these gifted sportsmen and women are out there, battling it out to win small fortunes. I am sure that without the natural gift of speedy reaction, uncanny anticipation and sheer muscular strength, training can produce good tennis players. But it is the gift of nature that makes great tennis champions and champion money earners.