Eric Butorac played in the doubles main draw at the U.S.
Open from 2007-16. He vividly recalls his warmup sessions on practice courts
that were closer to the nearby subway station than they were to Arthur Ashe
Stadium in Queens.
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“We were lucky when we got to practice on those courts for
any length of time,” said Butorac, now director of player relations at the U.S.
Tennis Association. “If we wanted a long practice, we had to go off site
completely, sometimes out to Long Island.”
But Butorac, who reached the final in doubles at the 2014
Australian Open, never felt slighted.
“I came from a small town in Minnesota and was just happy to
be there,” Butorac said. “For me, it was more about gratitude than about
feeling that others had been given more.”
There has long been a hierarchy among tennis players, a
distinction between the sport’s top players and everyone else. If Novak
Djokovic, a three-time U.S. Open winner, wants to practice in Arthur Ashe for
an extended amount of time, rather than outside the gates of the USTA Billie
Jean King National Tennis Center, he is given that privilege. So are defending
champions Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz.
Top seeds typically practice and play most, if not all, of
their matches on one of three premier courts — Ashe, Louis Armstrong or the
Grandstand — which affords them a major advantage. Ashe and Armstrong have
retractable roofs, so by playing there, they get to avoid the disruption of
rainouts, whereas the lower seeds, playing elsewhere, do not. Many players, of
all ranks, also train on practice courts just outside Ashe, where fans can
watch from courtside stands.
Those new balls are being chased around by the big support teams that have received extra accreditation from the tournament
But for low-ranked players, doubles specialists and players
who have gained entry by advancing through a qualifying tournament, finding
quality courts to get ready for their matches can often prove challenging.
Sometimes, less-accomplished players will arrange to practice with bigger names
just so that they can share the more coveted courts.
“When you’re playing the U.S. Open, it’s good to practice
with Frances there,” joked 17th-ranked Hubert Hurkacz, referring to Frances
Tiafoe, one of last year’s semifinalists.
Many players agree that there is a have-versus-have-not
culture in the sport. John Millman, who was ranked No. 33 in 2018, but is now
at No. 326, wrote in an article, published in May on the Australian website
news.com.au, that at some tournaments, he received fewer tennis balls to
practice with than high-rated players did.
“Those new balls are being chased around by the big support
teams that have received extra accreditation from the tournament,” said
Millman, who also wrote that, in addition to being able to bring in more staff
to help them during practice, bigger names are given the opportunity to book
practice courts first. They then choose the more coveted earlier-morning time
slots, so they can finish early.
Alizé Cornet, ranked No. 11 in 2009 but now at No. 65,
complained at Wimbledon that when she played on a featured court at a major
versus an outside court, she was allocated many more tickets to give away to
family and friends.
“I’ve been almost Top 10, I’ve been [ranked] 30 and I’ve
been 90,” said Cornet, 33. “I definitely felt a little different when I was a
seeded player at the Slam, but that’s how society works. The best you are, the
more advantage you get.”
Taylor Fritz, the No. 1-ranked American male and No. 9 in
the world, sees bigger differences at small tournaments where it is customary
for top seeds to be gifted luxurious hotel accommodations and more desirable
match times.
“Yeah, I think there are slight advantages, but I also
believe that the players that get the advantages have earned them,” Fritz said.
According to John Tobias, executive vice president at GSE
Worldwide, a marketing and management company that represents top tennis
players, many of them are given cars for their entourages, while other players
and their friends, family and fans are relegated to tournament shuttle buses.
The idea here is they won’t have to spend any money here, and they can take all of their prize money home with them.
Some players rely on accommodations provided at tournament
hotels, while Tobias is often able to negotiate deals for his star athletes
with upscale hotels that provide free suites in exchange for promotional
appearances or mentions on social media.
Cameron Norrie, Britain’s No. 1 player, thinks it’s funny
that the better he performs, the less he has to pay for. After reaching the
semifinals at Wimbledon last year, Norrie said he was offered free coffee by
his local barista and even had his dry-cleaning bill forgiven, even though he
earned more than $600,000 in prize money for that Wimbledon alone.
Many players agreed that perks for performance is a fair
exchange. It’s when players are denied equal opportunities to prepare for
tournaments that the situation becomes sticky.
“This is a topic that has been going around for a long
time,” said Daniel Vallverdu, Grigor Dimitrov’s coach and a former coaches
representative on the ATP Player Council. “My feeling is that to get to the
top, you have to go through what the other guys went through. Everyone has the
opportunity to go down the same path, to start from the bottom, to make it to
the top or not. And those top players are doing a lot more for the events than
the lower-ranked guys in terms of media commitments, sponsorship commitments
and tickets sales, so you have to incentivize them to come.
“But when it comes to the opportunity to prepare, like
access to the right gym, getting enough hours of practice, that’s where it
should be as equal as possible. Anything that influences preparation, and that
influences performance, should be very equal.”
The USTA is working to give equitable enhancements to all
players at the U.S. Open. In addition to providing creature comforts such as
recovery rooms and nap rooms, calming red-light therapy and virtual reality
games, the association is offering new initiatives this year for players,
including an additional free hotel room for a players coach or family member or
a $600 per diem if players opt to find their own housing. All players’ and
coaches’ meals on site are also covered by the USTA.
The USTA also gives all players competing at the Open a
$1,000 air travel stipend and $150 to cover airport expenses, as well as five
free racket stringings for every day a player has a match. There is also a new
app that allows competitors to secure transportation, practice courts, meal
allowances and match tickets. Coaches, who are now allowed to give advice
during matches, are being given tablets that track match stats.
“There’s no hierarchy in this situation,” said Butorac, who,
as director of player relations for the USTA, also offers a suite to all
players where they can pick out Open logo clothing, headphones or even a
Tiffany bracelet.
“This program is really geared toward players ranked No. 70
to 80,” he said. “The idea here is they won’t have to spend any money here, and
they can take all of their prize money home with them.”
If we wanted a long practice, we had to go off site completely, sometimes out to Long Island.
Prize money this year has also been increased by more than 8
percent over last year, with the men’s and women’s singles champions each
earning $3 million and first-round losers in the singles tournament taking home
$81,500. This year marks the 50th anniversary of equal prize money being
awarded to men and women at the Open.
Stan Wawrinka, a former U.S., Australian and French Open
champion once ranked No. 3 in the world before injuries dropped him out of the
Top 300, knows the vagaries of being lower-ranked.
“Of course, you have been through it differently when you’re
at the top of the game and when you’re down in the ranking,” said Wawrinka, now
No. 49. “That’s normal, and that’s how it is. And it’s always going to be like
that.
“I always believe it doesn’t matter where I am in the
ranking,” Wawrinka added. “It doesn’t matter what court I’m playing on. Doesn’t
matter where I have to stay. It’s always going to be special to be in a Grand
Slam.”
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