Do I Make Money as a Pro Tennis Player?

[@AmyZhu200]

venmo.com/u/Amy-Zhu-11 If you’d like to support me on the road, buy me a coffee! Thank you so much!!! ❤🙏🏼

[@jochooi6870]

The economics is nuts. Hats off to players like Amy that choose to tough it out for the dream. I can imagine many would give this up for a regular job.

[@chrislw9053]

Besides prize money, do you support yourself through lessons, paid hits, appearances? How much does family support play a role in your career?

[@Dfblack2008]

Thank you for sharing your reality as a pro. As a parent of a child who's just started tennis, I'd love to hear more about your journey from young kid to high level junior.

[@thedavidcake]

Yes to the insights on scheduling video!

[@eugenos]

Great video, thanks for this transparency! Keep up the grind!

[@alwaysprepared]

Is there enough prize money to make a living? Certainly not. But, is the prize money fair?? Fair really doesn't matter. A tournament has to at least break even to continue year to year. If they don't, then there would be no tournament to play... Maybe it might be better to pay out less in prize money, but instead supply more of the food, transportation and housing costs for players so more players afford them? That would hurt the best players some, but would help assure more players at each tournament. It's certainly a difficult life no matter how you work it... Good luck to you!

[@tldogg76]

This is super helpful and also quit sad honestly. It's a tough life trying to make it as a pro, not just on the court but also financially. I'm not surprised at how many decide it isn't worth it.

[@nguyen925]

Keep up the grind Amy!! We love ya from Texas ❤

[@nguyen925]

I love how the big tournaments (grand slams and masters?) are paying out both genders more equally but it's insane how much the tournaments could in theory pay more at lower levels. To at least make it worth it for players who want to continue to grind and play tennis as a career. I personally don't get the itf 15k, I thought it meant if you win it you'll get $15,000 and a runner up would be getting comparable prize money 😢

[@krakken11354]

keep grinding Amy we support you!

[@sandratoplaystennis]

Thank you for sharing this information! I would love to play some tournaments in CA and was calculating the total cost so your video was exactly what i was looking for :)

[@jodymaginley268]

Love the video Ammyyyyy

[@mpa1931]

I don't have much money, but I hope us watching your video is helping!

[@tennissliceoflife]

Awesome content, Amy! Crazy to hear how dire the financial situation is, even despite you making a final. It must be tough to schedule during the year with these cost considerations in mind too.

[@planetzoodle]

I like the camo bag!

[@justalex92]

Thank you for the insight. Great video! I have seen finance videos from other Pros on tour. Its not easy to survive just by prize money. Expenses are much higher than prize money. I think Tennis should create a League like MLTT (Major League Table Tennis) with teams and stable salary. Or maybe something similar to UTS. Fun new playing format but maybe add teams and bring in wildcards and add WTA players.

[@jackorange1882]

Man, its tough for aspiring tennis pro's.. I wish you could get sponsored by a big company

[@mjlee5617]

Its a pleasant surprise your parents from enthic Chinese background are open to you being a pro tennis player. Jia you and all the best

[@tkpratt]

Is that UTR trophy taller than you or is the photo playing tricks on me?! 🤣 Interesting video, seems pretty rough when you can make the final of a tournament and still be paying to play. Would love a video on scheduling, especially which surfaces you prefer to play.

[@kestonsoldschoolcomicbooks6842]

Great video, Amy! Thanks for breaking it down. BTW: Do you edit your own videos? If so, what editing package do you use? The captions and elements look sharp!

[@KarlMalowned32]

Wow. That’s rough. The thing is the pressure to go deep in a tournament just to come out in the green financially must be overwhelming sometimes.

[@lllIIIIIlIlIIllll]

I wanna be a pro so bad but it’s the money problems

[@fmtien]

The prize money is not fair but at the same time, ITF tournaments don’t generate any revenue. Admission for spectators is free and even so, barely anyone shows up to watch which is a real shame because the level of play is high.

[@microphonemaster484]

Lol, very eye opening! I hope this video will cover that money loss and maybe turn it into a profit. You weren't even a spender, just the minimum requirements. I guess the rented car actually cut on costs if you would've took Uber to the club.

[@rootdoc1997]

The WTA and The ATP should step up and pour some funds into these lower tier tournaments so you guys can at least come out in the black. They have the money but corporate greed and corruption are rampant in the WTA, ATP and ITF

[@FEDD]

Good luck in your journey. It's pretty unfair how little money you made for getting to making the finals.

[@f.squirrel-qg5mk]

Pretty crazy - especially for the food! What's your go-to meal? Also, awesome video - really cool insight into the finances. This kind of stuff adds to what makes your channel so real and authentic!

[@TomTom-i8s]

Amy, that’s why I became a pro in pickleball. I was only a DIII tennis player. Graduated and picked up pb and turned pro in 6 months. Now I earn a 6 figure salary as a signed player with a few company endorsements. Even former pros like Donald Young says the money in pb is way better for any tennis pros below top 100.

[@AndrewSinn-g9y]

IKR? 99% of pb pros are failed college tennis players. Now they making 6 and 7 figures playing in a sport that has very little competition since the pro scene is relatively young. Making it in tennis is just way too hard and competitive. Amy, probably still loves tennis, but it just does not pay since she’s not top 50.

[@alveolate]

so... just my old man maths here but $280 for 2 weeks of food works out to around $20 a day? i'm not sure about the nutritional requirements of a pro player nor the (most likely insane) prices of food in CA, but i feel like there's room to squeeze it down maybe. then again, that probably requires access to affordable groceries and a stove for cooking, and a way to store leftovers etc. the $50 uber strikes me as insane too... but i doubt it'd be easy to bring along a compact bike or something, especially when bicycling in the US seems dangerous af. truly, america needs to get public transit, at least for its major cities like freaking LA. this was very illuminating ultimately! i'd request a follow-up where you go thru some finances with your fellow ITF buddies and compare notes (if they're willing) so we can see if this is actually the standard. but it'd be equally interesting to see how you choose your tourneys and scheduling too, that sounds like another complex decision-making process! and no, these tourneys definitely don't compensate the players enough. they should at least come up with a way to subsidise all transport and accommodation costs up to a limit, especially for younger players with no sponsors. i'm sure they have much more money to spare, and maybe wealthier established players would be open to sponsoring some of this subsidy too.

[@bhscheer114]

I would argue that you shouldn't include food expenses in your calculations. I mean, you're going to have to eat whether you play in the tournament or not right? But regardless, it's pretty much impossible to make it financially if you're not at within the top 150. Good luck. You can do it!

[@alexandermayer2026]

You may consider yourself a professional player. Since you are not making money, you are really not a professional. A two week vacation in SoCal costs much more than that. You are not ranked higher because you are not good enough. The path you seem to have missed is college tennis. Would you be good enough to get a D1 full scholarship? There you are given pro level training and they provide you an education worth hundreds of thousands. In the summers, you can play qualies and low level tournaments. If after 4 summers you are not ranked high enough to make money on tour, then you don’t chase a (pipe)dream. You use your education and become a productive member of the paid work force. It’s reality, not dreamscape. The idea that the game owes you a shot is some kind of entitled attitude that will not serve you well in the rest of your life.