The Madness of Tennis Math

Last month my son was playing a 10 and under tournament at Rick Macci’s academy and I had the pleasure to sit next to a fellow parent who was there watching a grandson play. So, we struck a conversation on the costs of learning to play tennis. The following article is basically a summary of our conversation.

The cost of a high performance tennis academy in South Florida is roughly $1,500.00 week, (Saviano, Sanchez Casal, Blackman ,USTA new PD head)  this is the equivalent of $6,000.00 month or on a school year $60,000.00. This includes schooling.  In order to make $60,000.00 after tax you need to make $90,000.00 before tax.  Just for the readers reference in order to have $90,000.00 disposable income for one kid you would need to be in the top 1% of income earners in this country.

By the way, the average household income in the state of Florida is  $54,000.00. Granted tennis is not an average person’s sport, so for argument’s sake let us triple the average income to $162,000.00 before taxes. After taxes this income is $113,400.00. So, certainly enrolling a kid to tennis boarding school is not possible since it would cost $60,000.00. So, as a parent, what is one supposed to do? Maybe take kids to tennis class twice a week. At a HP facility that is roughly $800.00 month or approximately $9,600.00 after taxes or $12,480.00 before taxes.

We all know that twice a week is nowhere near the practice that a kid needs in addition to equipment and all the rest of expenses, hotels, equipment, gasoline, etc.  So, let’s say that the range of getting a HP tennis education is somewhere between $12,500.00 – $60,000.00 after taxes, this means anywhere between $16,250.00 and $90,000.00 before taxes. On the low end, this means $1,354.00 per month or $7,500.00 / month on the high end.

As a reference a 30 year loan on a $300,000.00 property is about $1,400.00 USD month.  Today’s prices for Florida State University are roughly $20,000.00 year Including tuition, room and board etc.

In order to develop a junior, one needs to work at least 8 years. So, if we calculate the lowest price range of $800.00 a month x  96 months = $76,800.00 USD after taxes or approximately $100,000.00 USD. As one can see, for sums that are so large that it is almost absurd to consider playing tennis. Why on earth would one wish to invest this much money this way?  So, here is the question parents in America face?

Why would we invest the equivalent of a years of room and board and tuition, or the same amount of money as a home valued at $300,000.00, on a sport where the odds of being a pro and making a living are 1 in 20,000. To put some perspective on the odds, imagine working for 8 years, spending all the money described above, entering Arthur Ash stadium in NYC (which seats a little over 20K people) and hoping to get picked to be a pro. It simply is not happening.

There is a reason the fans in professional tournaments are never kids, mostly seniors. There is a reason why America does not have a number one or wins Davis cups. The math simply does not make sense. Until it does, we will be enjoying watching foreigners play. By the way, the countries where these foreigners come from have nowhere near the money we spend on trying to learn HP tennis.

So, what are we supposed to do if one cannot afford a high-performance education.? Simply pick another sport.? This math is impossible to sustain.

Tennis needs kids, tennis needs fans, tennis needs to be redesigned from the ground up and of course we need our star. The current path makes no sense whatsoever. The math says so, the kids say so. It is simply madness. I am sure many people will disagree with me. Please consider that for the sport to produce results, it needs a mass of people to sustain it. One or two stars that the USTA may develop comes at what price?

I can be reached atjpalenque@yahoo.com or at twitter @palenquej.

If you enjoyed this article, please share it and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you.