Iga Swiatek signs with On Running , making her the worlds highest paid women athlete

WDC Runner wrote:

SlowOverratedTuohy wrote:

Very, very unfair. Very boring, seriously overpaid sport for snobs. No record marks, they have nothing measurable to achieve, just bouncing the ball. Who normal is watching this?

How can you say tennis players are overpaid? Yes, compared to distance runners. But probably fewer than 150 men and 150 women who play singles can make a living playing tennis. A lot of those really don't make enough given all the sacrifice involved but continue out of hope to one day make the higher rankings.

Like many sports, a few players make bank from endorsements. But it's helpful to be from certain countries. Russian players generally don't make that much from endorsements even though they are well represented at the top of the sport.

Of course, national origin can be overcome by personality and intangible factors. I would guess Iga has more of the latter two because I don't think being from Poland will necessarily get you the big bucks.

marketing bux wrote:

WDC Runner wrote:

How can you say tennis players are overpaid? Yes, compared to distance runners. But probably fewer than 150 men and 150 women who play singles can make a living playing tennis. A lot of those really don't make enough given all the sacrifice involved but continue out of hope to one day make the higher rankings.

Like many sports, a few players make bank from endorsements. But it's helpful to be from certain countries. Russian players generally don't make that much from endorsements even though they are well represented at the top of the sport.

Of course, national origin can be overcome by personality and intangible factors. I would guess Iga has more of the latter two because I don't think being from Poland will necessarily get you the big bucks.

Russian players do get paid, not shockingly for marketing and promotions in Russia (and within the empire, lol). Now not so great, but pre war big rubles. The best Russians with either results Bubka, or looks Sharapova, Kournikova have done well globally too.

Why tennis? You can clearly see the player's face, body, emotions, clothing, gear, shoes for 3-5 hours per match!!! There is no other televised sport that even gets close to this. So they get paid for this exposure x the tv ratings in the relevant countries. Tennis big in Europe, Russia and Asia. Declining for a long time in US. In smaller countries, that don't have many star athletes the top player's matches become like the super bowl. Djokovic in Serbia is their Michael Jordan. Swiatek is Poland's Chrissie Evert.