TENNIS – Unhappiness seems to be spreading into the world of ITF tennis, another open letter testifies a lack of attention from ITF to Futures and its players.
Unhappiness seems to be spreading into the world of ITF tennis and more cases of condemning the status of life outside the ATP world are happening. The case that shook the internet over the past few days is an open letter than Tomàs Buchhass wrote to ITF and published on his Facebok page.
“I am addressing the ITF to notify them and express my displeasure as a tennis player for having to take part in a tournament which is played in the conditions in which the Futures of Temuco, Chile, is played,” said the 22 year old Argentine. “Courts were in a pitiful state which are a hazard to the physical well-being of the players, without a restaurant in which to eat; on Saturday, during the first round of qualifications, a ball was lost and there was no replacement; there were matches scheduled on three courts but one had to be discarded due to the disastrous quality of the court, and the matches were put on another court, with the lines hand painted with a line of chalk, which is to say it was impossible for them to be straight or with the correct measurements.”
The first impression that one receives by reading his letter is not much about the critics to the organization of the tournament, but the resignation towards an institution that seems to have forgotten that behind the names that make tennis a worldwide famous sport, there are thousands of athletes struggling to go on, having to cope with bank accounts always in red and who, on top of that, are witnessing the absolute indifference of their association, when something as described above happens.
“To tell the truth, as someone who loves this game, one feels very frustrated because an immense effort is made, not only on my part (player), but also on the part of a whole family who expects the most basic things in order to play in conditions which are acceptable for the sport,” he added later. “I have never seen the ITF take any action whatsoever in the matter, checking and monitoring or with any intention to improve the tournaments.”
Obviously his latter cannot avoid talking about the financial aspect of the life of those who are far from the top of the world, even though, life gets hard quite steadily once you are out of top 100.
“It’s unfair, cruel and little gratifying,” he said. “Only 100 people in the whole world can make a living from this sport. Does it seem right to you? The rest of the field doesn’t receive anything, they increase the prize money of the majors, in which the players receive more and more, and we receive nothing!”
Surely this is not a new theme, it most definitely is something that in the higher spheres of ITF someone must have heard. Last year, another player, South African Keith-Patrick Crowley, started a campaign to promote the change in the distribution of money, so that the prize money of futures could benefit.
“Over the last 15 years the prize money for the Slams has increased by 479%,” he pointed out. “And the challengers and futures have increased by 0%.”
Crowley received great support from the internet and his petition reached a few thousands names, but everything seemed to have been ignored.
“The ATP is run like a business. They are only concerned about the players that can generate more income for them.” He said. “They are only concerned about money and keeping the top guys happy.”
Thanks to his tears of joy for the unexpected qualification to the main draw at the latest US Open, James McGee reached quite some fame and so did his story, published on his blog where he talked about the struggle to live a life following his dream of becoming a top tennis player.
“I remember making the final of a Futures in Madrid in May 2011 and receiving under €500 in prize money,” the Irish player wrote on his blog. “It was atrocious and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the cheque. It was both discouraging and sad to see my hard work earning me very little money. Up to that point, it was my most successful week of 2011 in terms of ranking points but I still lost more money than I made!”
Sadly, there are so many stories like these that are told continuously by tennis players from all over the world. But coming back to the case of Buchhass, he did not stop to these topics, he went further and talked about the contemporary topic of betting.
“It’s a little contradictory that the ITF sends the message that they wish to go against betting, and all those things which stains our sport,” he wrote. “And it makes me sick, as someone who loves the game, to hear that such things exist, that matches are fixed, but afterwards, I see that the ITF has a gambling house as a sponsor.”
But then he added: “That’s where things don’t match. They wish to go against those things which stain the game, but they have ‘official gambling houses’.
“Truth be told, it seems that they’re going the wrong way. They are putting the sport aside and it ends up being an association which only aims for profit.”