A few years ago Australian player Sam Groth itemised his expenses for a year to live on the circuit. It came to about $200 000. That comes out of the player's pocket. While the elite of the sport are uber wealthy, prize money in tennis is very much skewed to the top. Players ranked around 100 in the world make a living wage and not much better. That makes it very difficult for them to compete with highly ranked players with sophisticated teams around them. It's a big part of the reason why the sport has been dominated by the same small pool of players for a decade. If the pay filters down to the lower levels which in part is what this is about it will make life as a player viable for fringe players and improve competition against the top level.
