The Rise of Financial Guarantees in Tennis: How Players Like Sampras and Federer Utilized the System

It is January 5, 1994 in Doha. Pete Sampras slowly wakes up from a year 1993 filled with success with two Grand Slam victories. If his body, freshly landed on Qatari soil, is present this January 5 in Doha, his spirit still seems to be navigating through his marvelous 1993 season. The sun is as hot as his feet when the Washingtonian presents himself on the 1st round of the Qatar Open. Facing him is an illustrious unknown: Karim Alami, 205th in the world and just out of qualifying. The Moroccan, certain of the outcome of the match against the world number one, has already booked his plane ticket for the following week. “When I found out I was going to play Sampras, I booked my flight to leave Doha for Jakarta, and play the qualifiers.”

But Pistol Pete is not in his mood that day. To the great dismay of the organizers who paid him $500,000 to bring him here. Conversely, it was a profitable trip for the American with only one match played and a disastrous defeat against the 205th in the world. “Sampras apologized for not having been well prepared. But at the moment he has not yet returned the money,” Sport Illustrated wrote at the time.

This setback will not prevent the owner of 14 Grand Slam titles from winning a third consecutive major, a few days later in Australia. And as the story is well done, Karim Alami subsequently became director of the Qatar Open.

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Black is not a guarantee.

The kesako guarantee: this is the sum of money that a tournament gives to a player in exchange for his presence. This system is not permitted in all tournaments. Only ATP 500, 250 and Challenger can offer players money in exchange for their participation. The Masters 1,000 are simply not authorized there, because the presence of qualified tennis players is obligatory. The situation is similar for Grand Slam tournaments. This method allows “small tournaments”, beyond the sporting presence of the player, to allocate the image of the athlete during the event. “You’re not necessarily paying for the player to come to you, you’re paying to use their image individually. And that’s also why we pay a guarantee,” says Vincent Stavaux, director of the Louvain-la-Neuve Challenger. A method that is, however, fully legal, as our interlocutor wishes to point out: “It is not a black guarantee, it is an invoice which is made either by the player or by the agent.”

Sampras tested it, Federer democratized it

Sampras opened the breach of guarantees in the 90s and Federer rushed in, a decade later. “He signed these kinds of contracts, it was he who triggered the guarantee market, which made the tournaments want to have him. A bit like Michael Jordan, he was the person you had to see,” noted Lionel Maltesse, former deputy manager of the Marseille Open.

The Helvetian, tennis genius, handled the one-handed backhand as well as the business. And he saw in this guarantee system an additional means of filling his already full bank account. One million euros, this is the minimum sum that the ATP 250 and 500 tournaments had to pay to afford the presence of the Swiss Master. Other players of his generation also subsequently benefited from this lucrative system. And the young guard did not miss the opportunity to take up the torch.

Vincent Stavaux, one of the two co-directors of the BW Open. ©BELGA

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Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem, it cost us €0.

Like Carlos Alcaraz. According to the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, “Carlitos” would have paid for his presence for €750,000 at the Basel tournament in 2023 (he ultimately withdrew due to an injury). More recently, he would have collected $900,000 (€831,000) during his participation in the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires, according to the Argentinian daily La Nacion. Brilliant, charismatic, young and talented, the Murcian has all the assets of a bankable player. It would be wrong to deprive oneself of such a privilege as these guarantees represent. But only a handful of players can afford the luxury of requesting a financial guarantee. Those who have status. Namely, former Grand Slam winners, the top 10 or even the showmans. “We could pay a guarantee for someone who activates our ticketing. Murray, Thiem, Monfils, Wawrinka, Cilic, these are players who can make people dream and sell,” tells us the director of the Louvain-la-Neuve Challenger.

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If the stars of the circuit frequently ask for a fee for their presence, others come for free, with the simple idea of ​​earning points to move up the ATP rankings. “Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem cost us €0”, reveals Mathieu Blesteau, director of the Rennes Challenger.

Small tournaments under the boots of the stars

Tournaments are willing to pay a lot to bring in stars who allow them to obtain fruitful spinoffs. Particularly in terms of ticketing and partners, but also the media. “The year we had Murray, we had to change press rooms urgently, because there were 35 journalists. In terms of image, it is very positive to succeed in attracting a player of this caliber, because it increases the level of satisfaction of our partners, explains our Breton interlocutor, who was ready to do a lot to put the Briton in the best conditions. possible: We made an effort for Murray who had missed his train to Paris on Sunday. So we chartered a car to take him to Rennes.”

But stars sometimes have busy schedules and it can happen that the player withdraws from the tournament a few days before its start. Like Jannik Sinner, winner of the Australian Open, who withdrew from Marseille at the beginning of February. Which is not without consequences for the organizers. “The public who buys tickets is impacted. Over the week in Metz, 60,000 people are affected by this package,” said the director of the Moselle Open, a little bitterly, when Stan Wawrinka declared a late withdrawal in 2014. The Swiss had redeemed himself four years later by returning his guarantee after retiring due to injury during the first round of the Marseille Open.

Exhibitions, the new financial Eldorado of the stars

“Federer tells you: ‘It costs a million dollars if you want me.’ […] What are the players saying to each other? ‘I want more money in Grand Slams’, which they managed to get. ‘When I’m going to play a smaller tournament, I want a million dollars guarantee. But I also want to play my exhibitions. And you know what ? Now, because Rome, Bercy, etc., don’t give enough money, well the tournaments have to go to South-East Asia.’ The statement full of clairvoyance is signed Guy Forget in the columns of Le Monde and dates from 2014. Ten years later, these words have transformed into absolute reality. The Laver Cup founded by Roger Federer, the UTS of Patrick Mouratoglou and the Saudi King Slam. The ATP must now deal with new competition: exhibitions. Which are populated by stars attracted with buckets of dollars. Bublik and Alcaraz, who had recently complained about an overloaded schedule, will participate at the end of the season in a friendly tournament in Saudi Arabia with Djokovic and Nadal among others. Middle Eastern petrodollars seem to ease some players’ aching bodies. It must be said that the sums distributed for these tournaments with zero sporting stakes can go very high. As during Roger Federer’s South American tour at the end of 2019. Like a rock star, the Swiss paraded in Mexico, Buenos Aires, Quito, Bogota and Santiago. Five matches in one week against Zverev and Del Potro which earned him 9 million euros, according to the Swiss daily Le Temps. While second-rate tennis players still have difficulty making a living from their sport, the stars seem destined for an ever more serene and prosperous future. Thanks Roger.

Roger Federer, the founder of the Laver Cup. ©Photo NewsSaudi sovereign wealth fund PIF announces “a strategic partnership” with the ATP circuit
2024-02-29 11:55:00
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