At the beginning of the new season, Roberts Strombachs occupies the 398th place in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking, where he is the highest ranked Latvian tennis player. Strombach has set himself the goal of rising significantly in the ranking by spring in order to gain the right to play at the “Grand Slam” level in the French Open Championship qualification, which would also provide a financial basis for the entire season.
IN BRIEF:
In order to qualify for the “Grand Slam” tournament, the rank must be at least 230th. By mid-April, Strombach needs to collect enough points to move up more than 150 places in the rankings and qualify for the French Open, which starts on May 19.
Achieving the goal will require an impressive rise in the rankings, but Strombach sees the task as doable. It will be important to win some tournaments, not to often reach the semi-finals or quarter-finals, explained the tennis player.
Last year, Strombach played a lot in the lower “Futures” tournaments in order to move up to the level of the “Challenger” series.
The plan was successful to the point of getting opportunities to play in “Challenger” tournaments, but the continuation of the season did not turn out bright. At the end of the season, Roberts played again in “Futures”, where he managed to end the year with a victory in the tournament in Angola. This, in turn, allowed the 2026 season to begin in Great Britain in the main competition of the “Challenger” series in Nottingham, where they failed to overcome the first round.
The “Challenger” series already has a different organizational level, because during the tournament hotel and transportation to the venue of the competition have been paid for the tennis players, as well as new balls have been provided. On the other hand, at the lower-ranked Bengaluru tournament in India, Strombach witnessed monkeys throwing rocks on the field, which had to stop the match for a while.
“There is a big difference between “Challenger” and “Futures”, Štrombach emphasized in a conversation with Latvijas Radio.
A professional tennis player has to think for himself how to cover all expenses for travel, coaches and medical support.
If you are not in the TOP150 world ranking, then the income will not exceed the expenses, but if you bring coaches with you every week, then the disadvantages are guaranteed, explained Strombach. If you have to play 30-35 weeks a year in a professional tennis season, a tennis player has to calculate what they can afford.
“Because you have to pay him [trenerim] salary, plus hotel and food. The huge sums come together with hotels and flights,” said the first racket of Latvian tennis.
This is also why it is important to enter the “Grand Slam” tournament, because even participating in the first rounds would allow Robert to financially cover the entire competition year. Until it fails, lower ranked tennis players look for other financial opportunities, for example representing a club. Strombach has no doubts that there are always ways to finance a career in tennis.
A great contribution to Robert’s career has been made and continues to be made by his father, Armands Strombachs, who was himself a professional tennis player. Armands Strombachs always follows the development of tennis, and both he and his son get along very well off the court as well. Roberts has tried to train in several tennis centers and has taken the best from each coach.
Roberts forges his own competition strategy, evaluating which surface to play on and in which tournaments.
It is preferable not to have to fly every week and to be able to stay in one place for a couple of weeks. He also prepares all the travel plans himself, which helps him not to spend unnecessarily.
There are opportunities to play every week in Europe as well, but at the same time you have to aim to play in higher level tournaments. Not so many tennis players aspire to play outside of Europe, which opens up better opportunities to enter higher-level tournaments elsewhere in the world and earn more ranking points, explained Roberts. He always does well in tournaments in Africa, probably because of the hot climate.
At the beginning of February, Roberts decided to represent the Latvian national team in the Davis Cup in order to try to win the away match against the Dominican Republic in the second group of the World. Participation in the national team does not cause him any pressure, but the tennis player considers it an honor and tries to reach the maximum in every tournament.
Robert Strombach studies business remotely, but most of his time is taken up by tennis, where success requires continuous focus. The 26-year-old tennis player’s daily life tends to be hectic, but in the evening, even when tired, he must be able to motivate himself to dedicate a few hours to studying.
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