![]() The fact that he is worth almost $9 million in prize money today (he is 45) owes much to the fact that he realised very early that he would not be able to make it as a singles player and switched to what would turn out to be a magnificent doubles career. ![]() But consider this - Paes’ highest ranking in singles was 73 which he achieved in 1998 when he was 25. Leander Paes is one of the greatest sporting legends India has ever had. In a note tinged with sadness at the time of retirement he said: “Playing for me was always super fun and passion that was dying or slowing down." Playing through multiple injuries and indifferent form, his highest career ranking by the time he retired in 2017 was a disappointing 62 with no career singles titles and $1.4 million in earnings to show for a career spanning nine years. His career would however pan out differently. When he turned professional later that year, India had reason to hope he would put the country back on the singles tennis map for the first time since Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan breached the top-25. His 44-1 win-loss record in 2008 at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship is unprecedented. He was the only collegiate player to have made three consecutive finals at the NCAA. That, however, is no easy task.Ĭonsider the case of Somdev Devvarman. But given how the prize money numbers drop off beyond the Grand Slams and the ATP Masters levels, to make a career that is sustainable purely as a singles tennis professional, the aim has to be to finish in the top-50 on an ongoing basis. The first step for a young player is clearly to get into this list on the ATP computer to ‘be in the game’ so to speak. Attractive as it may seem at first glance, before you rush off to enrol your four-year-old Junior Federer at the local tennis academy to swing his racquet for your retirement benefit, it’s worth considering a few facts about the business of tennis.Īt any point in time there about 1,500 players active on the ATP list.
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