If you are a serious tennis fan, chances are that it worries you
to see burgeoning purses at tennis tournaments never letting up in a
trajectory they took up a couple of decades ago. We've all seen what
magnificent paydays have done to heavyweight boxing - the environment at
a boxing spectacle seems to have lost most of its dignity over the last
quarter-century. It has got to the point where all the glitz and the
obvious protection that name-brand boxers get, remind people of the
methods of operation that the mafia use. The USTA has just announced
that they've jacked up the winner's purse for the 2010 U.S.A Tennis Open
by a further million over last year - it now stands at nearly $23
million - and it is the richest purse for a winning tennis champion of
any competition in the world. A winner at the US open stands to gain
further bonuses and prizes worth millions more. In a gratifying nod to
equality though, women and men winners at the USA Tennis Open have won
equal purses for a quarter century now; it's always been a first of any
Grand Slam Event.
Just as a major rock act in concert doesn't come
out until the opening acts warm the audience up, the US Open has
several season openers that whet the audience's appetite for the main
event. The opening acts number in ten and take up the entire summer with
tournament names like the ATP World Tour and the Sony Ericsson WT tour.
They begin July 19 each year. They call this the Olympus US Open
Series. There are millions to be won over the series. Last year, it was
Raphael Nadal and Dinara Safina who won. The USA Tennis Open, the
culmination of it all, attracted three-quarters of a million fans last
year and would you believe it, it holds the record as the
highest-attended sporting event held on a yearly basis around the world.
It
isn't for nothing that sporting purists lament the absolute rule of
money in modern athletics and other sports.
The money trail doesn't end
with what the champions gain either. There is the whole betting market
that operates around Flushing Meadows to consider too. The bookmakers
(established names like Ladbrokes and Boylesports) have Ralph Nadal and
Roger Federer tied neck and neck. There are millions of dollars resting
on the performance of these world-class players. As far as the betting
market is concerned, Federer is not a winner - he is a spent force -
even if he just won the 2010 Australian Open. But it's difficult to
count him out considering the handful of US Tennis Open titles he
already holds.
And that's how a major sporting event is seen today
- the players come there for the money, and the spectators come there
for the money (although they spend thousands each on tickets). Perhaps
people will begin to lend their support to the minor events more often -
considering how they are yet untainted by the lucre.