College Tennis Vs. Turning Pro

Spectator · All-time great

RE: College Tennis Vs. Turning Pro

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

I agree with Spectator - an Ivy League education is not something to be sniffed at. The trick for young "second tier" Brits is to choose a college that is strong academically, even if that means choosing a college that isn't fantastic for tennis. It seems very difficult to mix high level tennis with a degree in this country.

Did anybody mention Andrew Castle in all of this? I'm sure he went, couldn't tell you which college though.

I thought American College sport had very strong rules preventing college players from playing professionally?

Is there a list of our players who are in the US on tennis scholarships? This information must be available, not sure if anybody has bothered collating it. Wasn't there talk of Jade Curtis going to Uni?

Shhh · Challenger level

KingMonkey wrote:
Perhaps the top one or two such as Cox and Evans could make pretty fast strides in the Men's game but others (Milton etc.) will struggle to break the top 500 in the next 5 years. I guarantee it. They just don't have big enough weapons...

Milton sits at 400 in the rankings just a few months on. I hope you don't sell 2nd hand cars KingMonkey!

Seriously though, I take your point, Milton seems almost a youth playing a mans game but, he also seems to have the strength/skill to stay in a point long after he should have been out of it. I don't know how far he can go in the game but, I certainly think he could have a decent future in it.

mjd · Challenger qualifying

This all sounds very nice but how is an 18 year old supposed to finance this?
Most would feel lucky to be able to find the air fair to USA, hence the need to start with futures in UK and Europe none of which is likely to immediately bring great fortunes.

PockyTastic · Futures level

stevemcqueen wrote:

Is there a list of our players who are in the US on tennis scholarships? This information must be available, not sure if anybody has bothered collating it. Wasn't there talk of Jade Curtis going to Uni?

Jade is indeed at an American University; Auburn in Montgomery, Alabama:

http://www.aumathletics.com/roster/10/8/1084.php

Josh · Challenger level

Hope Johnson is at William & Mary and Niall Angus is at Texas A&M, there must be more as well. Wasn't Borwell talking about sending 14 over this year?

PockyTastic · Futures level

Well Hannah James is another one. She's at Arizona State:

http://www.statepress.com/archive/node/10246

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Zoo tennis.com points to a recent study conducted on whether American players should turn pro or go to college based on financial advise.
pdf
http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/USTA%20College%20Varsity%20Analysis%20of%20College%20vs%20Pro%20FAQ.pdf

Excerpts:
[QUOTE]The average annual costs for playing the pro tennis tours = c. $143,000
[B]
(4) ATP and WTA Rankings needed to BREAK EVEN playing Professional Tennis from prize money alone[/B]
In 2009, you would have to have been ranked 164 in the world on the ATP Tour (Nicholas Mahut, who made $144,290) to simply break even from prize money alone playing mens professional tennis at the highest, most competitive, level.
In 2009, the number 250th ranked player, Grega Zemlja, earned $71,270 in total prize on the ATP Tour; the 500th ranked player, Walter Trusendi, earned $16,197 in total prize money. These are the figures for what they earned, not accounting for what they spent in expenses while competing.
In 2009, you would have to have been ranked 119 in the world on the WTA Tour (Pauline Parmentier, who made $142,034) to simply break even from prize money alone playing womens professional tennis at the highest, most competitive, level.

[B](6) The average age of tour professionals[/B]
There are apparently misconceptions as to how old the average professional tour tennis players actually are.
See Appendix E for both the ATP and WTA Tours, broken down thru the top 500
The average ages are as follow

Men
Top 20 and Top 200 = c. 26 years old

#s 200 - 400 = 25 years old

#s 400-500 = 24 years old

Women
Top 20 = 25 years old
the rest of the Top 100 = 24 years old
#s 100-200 = c. 23 years old
#s 200-500 = 22 years old

SUMMARY
(1)The average annual costs of attending college = c. $42,000
(2)The average annual total educational + tennis developmental value of accepting a college scholarship = c. $90,000
(3)The average total educational + tennis developmental value of accepting college scholarship for four years = c. $360,000
(4)The average annual costs for playing the pro tennis tours = c. $143,000
(5)To break even playing professional tennis you must be ranked c.119 on WTA Tour and c. 164 on ATP tour (based on 2009 end-of-year rankings)
(6)The average age for a top male tour professional = 25-26 years old; the average age for a top female tour professional = c. 23-24
(7)The average number of years it takes to enter the Top 100 = 3-4
(8)The average life expectancy on tour = c. 7 years[/QUOTE]

It's worth reading the whole pdf

Spectator · All-time great

And then, looking at things purely from a financial perspective, imagine adding to the figures the potential earnings boost from a good degree (and certainly if you graduate from the University of Virginia or Yale, you are getting a good degree). So you're getting good value while you take up the scholarship, good training, and long-term benefit. Not bad.

It would also seem that playing for a top, top team -- such as the University of Virginia -- would be a phenomenal opportunity to be with some seriously talented people. Over the past few years, Virginia alone has had Michael Shabaz, Inglot (of course!), Treat Huey, Somdev Devvarman . . . and now Alex Domijan seems to be doing rather well. Not bad people to practice with.

By the way, Zootennis also says that Ed Corrie and Vicky Brook won their regional doubles titles and are competing in the next national championship tournaments.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

I'd say it makes more sense for the men than women - for the women if your going to be good enough to reach the top 100, your going to reach the point where being on the tour makes money long before you finish a degree course.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Joanna Henderson will attend University of Tennesee next year. Or so I read at gb tennis girls forum.
Good luck to her.

tennisfan84 · Junior player

I know Steph Cornish has decided to study. She is studying at Bath this year. I'm sure Marcus Willis is looking to study at Bath also. I saw him in the gym before he headed off to Greece for the last couple of weeks. Looks like one less top 600 Brit!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Seems the LTA are supporting the move to Colleges and universities:

http://www.lta.org.uk/Articles/Paul-Hutchins-blogs/08122010---The-Hutch-in-the-USA/

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

johnnylad wrote:

Seems the LTA are supporting the move to Colleges and universities:

http://www.lta.org.uk/Articles/Paul-Hutchins-blogs/08122010---The-Hutch-in-the-USA/

After the LTA's failure to produce a top 100 player since Martin Lee (in 2001, but he didn't stay there long) I think a slight change of tactics is long overdue. British players tend not to mature early (Murray being the exception).

Many British players come from middle class or wealthy backgrounds, so should be able to handle tertiary education. Despite their backgrounds, maturity seems to be singularly lacking. Perhaps some time at a US university might help.

I also think that the LTA should invest in a training camp in Barcelona. This wouldn't cost a great deal, not compared with the cost of Roehampton. An appropriate facilty would allow Brits to mix with the Spanish youngsters. As well as showing up youngsters who can't handle the pressure, perhaps a week or two's training might be a suitable reward for achievement in UK competitions....

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Do we not have "La Manga" somewhere in Spain?