@@alexsheets9085 i know he already sponsored by lactose idk about yonex doesn’t use stencil . But y should he get payed to use them ?? Free good enough . The only product kaure should get payed for tennis wise is toroline only thing he actual market.
Reminds me of the old Mastercard commercials - $3,500 stringing fees - $35,000 travel expenses - earning ATP #259 in my first year turning 30 - PRICELESS 👏
It disgusts me that tennis doesn't pay the top 100.. usd500k.. the next 100 usd250k and the next 100 usd100k basic appearance... it's terrible. Flight allowance Insurance Hotel allowance. What is this crap? It makes me sad...
Maybe the Challenger tournaments could set up a local schedule for premium lessons with players in a tournament?? Just one hour a day for a $200-300 lesson with a pro. The pro just feeds balls to their student, little physical effort, but can make some extra money while engaging tennis fans.
Yep, except top 100. 100-200 probably do OK as well. Over 200.... don't do it for the money; do it if you have the chops to eventually get into the top rankings, or in this case likely, if you are enjoying an expensive hobby.
I really hope one of those big name companies endorses you! I think it’s very inspiring to make a come back at your age and move up your ranking by hundreds! Keep it up man, we’re all rooting for you!
The “BuT yOU ChOse TO pLAy prO TenNIS” is incoming. 😂 spare us from your stupidity! Thank you everyone else for the support this year, LITERALLY couldn’t haven’t done it without the channel!
My friend beat top 10 players in the 1970s. He also gave Stan Smith, when #1, a run for his money. He played Jimmy Connors in one of his first pro tourneys, but lost 6-4, 6-4. My friend couldn't afford to go on the tour back then and became a teaching pro.
Former womens doubles #1 Renae Stubbs brother, Rodney, was actually better at tennis than Patrick Rafter as a late teenager but he made much better money with his day job so he never pursued the tour. We always thought he might have been full of it until Peter Doohan (beat Boris Becker at Wimby) moved to our area, and Rodney crushed him 4 & 3. Granted they were both in their 40's at the time, and Rodney was 8 years younger or so.
I feel like Yonex and Lacoste should be paying you. No doubt that countless people have bought a Percept because of you. But then, why would they pay you if you're already giving them free airtime? Sadly, you'd have to paint your racket and wear a different brand of clothes to get them to the negotiating table.
As someone who isn't an accountant, do you have an accountant doing your taxes for each country you visit? Because you should be getting most of that pre-paid tax back from most countries.
Declare domicile in a state/country that does not impose income taxes. He would still have to pay federal taxes (if in USA) but receives credits for the taxes automatically imposed from winnings when doing your tax return. You can also set up an LLC/Trust in a “tax haven” state, and flow your income through said entity. That however is a much much more expensive process to set up and maintain.
@@JonB516 Yeah, interesting strategy; however "declaring domicile" can be incredibly challenging, requires meticulous planning and comes with residency regulations.. He would have to totally change his life around.
You deserve a big endorsement for what you have done for the sport. You are out here following your dream and making the most incredible tennis content at the same time, whether it is day-in-the-life type stuff, video lessons, product reviews, etc.. Most people who love tennis, consume tennis media, and play USTA events at any level know who you are and are big fans because despite being an elite athlete you are just a normal guy who is very relatable. Best of luck in 2025 and beyond! Hopefully many years from now we will get to listen to you as a pundit for big events!
Reminds me of a player who was a top 200 both singles and doubles,in his prime. He was in a few GSs main draw and qualifiers but didn’t make far. At that time he was paid a basic salary by his tennis association. His earnings were his to keep but his spending came out from his salary and sponsorship. He is now a full time coach and he promotes racquets and products for his sponsors.
Dude, you're probably the most likeable tennis pro out there. It's why I keep coming back to your videos even though I'm not a regular player anymore. Very humble guy 👍
At least this career move helps boost your channel !! I think you're bound to get a sponsor ship deal soon Karue! Love your grind, content and the willingness to chase your dream 🎉
Great video, Karue. Very informative and educational. The prize money and overall marketing at the Challenger level needs to improve. The average fan doesn’t realize how strong the level and talent is in the 100-300 ranking range.
There have been several books about the pro tour going back its earliest days. One common theme in all of them is that only players consistently in the top 100-150 make a reasonable living, and the only ones actually doing truly well financially are the top 50-ish. Top 20-ish get most of the prize money and basically all the sponsorship money. This has been true for the entire open era. Most of the players who have gotten to those top levels were either already wealthy or had been spotted very young and gotten tons of financial help from federations, academies, etc. it’s interesting to see Karue’s numbers, but also interesting to see how little has changed in players’ financial journey.
That’s how it should be. There is not much room in this world for people making a living doing an activity that is recreational for 99.9% of everyone else.
This is really thoughtful, Karue, thank you. There are two topics here that interest me; first, how could prize money (and perks) be distributed more evenly? And second, what can be done from a marketing perspective to increase the amount of people attending events? I know I would love to see some of these things but I never know when or where they are, you really have to be a hardcore fan. Would love to see a lot more engagement on UA-cam and other platforms from the events themselves to get people interested and excited to show up. Today it seems the sport is leaning way to heavily on the fact that players either come from rich families or else make extreme sacrifices to keep their kid on the court.
I would think given your honesty and ability to breakdown your own game in an objective manner tennis companies would line up to work with you. I played in college and have been a teaching pro since 2000. When I first got into teaching Wilson would send free product with a phone call and Head as well. Now companies are very reluctant to hand out free product.
I know a pro playing also at top 300 level,who bought himself a compact and light stringing machine he travels to tournaments with. By stringing himself he gets consistent quality and saves a lot of money. Apparently many stringers at the events are not always doing a great job. The machine costs a lot less than what You spent on the stringing, but You obviously have to put in the time to do it by yourself.
I started to use Gruns because of your channel. Thanks for the insights on tennis pro-life. ATP has to do a better job spreading out the riches to encourage more aspiring and talented players.
Thank you for the consistently informative content you post. I find learning about the “nuts and bolts” of professional tennis more interesting than yet another interview/video/analysis of the very top players. A few questions for the next Q&A session: 1) I heard from a handful of tennis instructors that you can separate players based on how many shots they can hit in a minute (I suppose because it goes to show how much speed they can generate and whether they can stay in a fast-paced rally). What’s your view/experience about this? And if you believe that this is true, what would you say is the number of shots/minute a player must be comfortable to hit to play at a professional level? 2) Can players at your level “fix their own shots” without the help of a coach? Say you are traveling, and your serve is off. Can you spot what the issue is by watching yourself on video and address the issue for the following match? From listening to Roddick’s podcast and seeing at Indian Wells a few players hitting with a coach other than their regular coach, it seems that players do need coaches to improve an aspect of their technique. 3) How do you explain success later in the career of a professional tennis player? Think Wawrinka, or Mannarino, or Eubanks. 4) On a similar note: to which extent, if any, would you say that being older than many promising players (eg. Holt) is an advantage when you play against them? How much being more mature as a person has made you a better player? 5) Likelihood that the German former no. 2 in the world will award you a wild card for the qualies in Indian Wells??? 6) Would like to see videos of you testing racquets and shoes. Clearly, those are very personal choices, but it would be interesting to see what a player of your caliber looks for in a racquet (even though you may end up modifying it to fit your game) and shoes. Tennis Warehouse should jump on this opportunity! One last thought: I support your sponsors to support you, but also because - in my experience - you work with cool companies. For example, LMNT is a great product, and the company does take care of their customers with freebies every now and then. Good luck with your preparation for the next season and for the actual season!
Absolutley lovely content Karue! I have been following your journey on the pro circuit and it is amazing that you talk about this subject and you do it so well. I truly believe that this kind of conversations is having an impact on this matter. All of you guys play at an insane level and really should be compensated more than a fastfood chef hahah😂 Keep it up man you legend❤
hopefully it is having an impact. Again, I can live of my online presence but that also took years. Most players don’t have that so I am not the best study case
Very interesting video. A lot of people don't fully understands that becoming a tennis pro is one of the hardest things to achieve. Close to 98% of the tennis players will not make it to the top 50 in their lifetime playing tennis. As a psychologist I was interested in a certain aspect of the tennis and I started chatting with some lower level players. Well my eyes were opened wide to just how hard it is to actually be able to afford to play pro tennis. Not one of the players had any real experience with a performance psychologist which surprised me. Of course the US college players did have a psychologist but most didn't once they went on tour on their own. I have to take my hate off to people who go after their dream and do whatever it takes just to play a tennis match I actually think that it's more impressive than the big players success. So fair play to you Karue and you are 100% correct about UA-cam that without it a lot of players would not be able to play pro tennis.
@stefanthomassen4750 98% thats what the research we carried out told us. There is no sport where just .1% make it. Even military special forces who have a high failure rate are still better odds than making the top 50 on pro tennis. Part of the reason is there are so many pro tennis players around the world and that is supported with many tournaments atcthe lower levels of tennis. So becoming a pro tennis player is not hard getting an ATP or WTA point is very hard.
Well done on finding a way to make it work! I wonder if i can start a you tube channel called “trying to beat the old ducks at social tennis” to fund some lessons :P
The ATP and WTA should have a pool of coaches that receive a small salary each year. The challenge tour players could then pick from the list for a tournament. Provides exposure for aspiring coaches and gives the players a coach. If they mesh, then the relationship maybe sticks. Similar system to public defenders.
Great video, too honest even 😅 You need a stiffer racquet with more power though, no way around that. Nishikori has a custom 100 18x20 with 70RA, you'd need something like that. Since you play really flat on some shots, you probably don't want to play with 16x19, but you should. You'd be able to handle spinny slowballing much better, balls you can't flat counterpunch at all. Then you give pace to those balls, trying to create a point, but then you get counterpunched because you gave him nice flat pace etc
11:50 lol. Is that Winston Du? 12:35 Giron? I need to get off the internet... Dude, I really wish your body holds up and help you make it. Q&A: Is where you are at better or worse than you had imagined? Very happy with what you are able to accomplish this year!
THIS is the video that people need to see. Thank you for documenting this & for your transparency! Also, shameless plug for UTR Pro Tennis Tour events. We offer guaranteed prize money & number of matches. We are offering more paths for players to make a living to play tennis professionally!
Curious about frequency of stringing in a tournament. Would having additional rackets help lower the cost? If they ever had a tournament in my town I would be happy to string for material cost only.
Thanks for the analysis! Could you help me with something unrelated: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?
I’m not sure if you’ve already made something on this but I’d love to see a video on your ideas on how to rework challengers and ITF’s. Obviously would be great if prize pools increase and accommodations were paid for but I’m not sure how profitable these tournaments are to run? Maybe some sort of regional circuits where players all travel together from tournament to tournament? I don’t really have many ideas myself, would love to know what you think!
Krue thats crazy. No wonder people goto Golf, Soccer/Football. In UK 60min on inside court is £35. Unfortunately its an elitist sport. Keep doing what your doing tipping point is around the corner. You have many fans in London. Have a good Christmas and New Year.
How does it work with rental cars? In a place like Drummondville that's over an hour from Montreal, does the hotel have a shuttle bus or something to take you to the hotel/tournament? How do you get around the city otherwise during off days?
I think the tournament has drivers to and from the players' hotel(s). Players request a driver at a certain time. A car company or a dealership, such as Mercedes, supplies the cars. The tournament in my city does this, and local people volunteer for the driver position, as well as many other positions at the tournament.
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months
Great job Karue! Watched you for years and even remember you winning Moraga. Shave mustache but grow slight chin hair or just go full J. Depp and sponsor money will flow....sounds like a joke but listen to the guy who played Tobias on Arrested Development talk about how executives think regarding this absurdity.
Karue, eu acompanho vc desde os primórdios do mytennishq. E achei genial seu projeto do turning pro at 30. E descobri q vc é brasileiro no meio dessa jornada. E achei o máximo! Além disso, acho toda sua pauta de conteúdo muito foda, inclusive essa. Gostaria muito de conversar com vc sobre projetos. Eu acredito muito no seu potencial e nesse novo formato de conteúdo que vc vem trazendo sobre tênis. Netflix tentou fazer algo com match point, mas entendo que não era o formato correto. Acredito muito na sua forma de inovar e falar sobre o tênis. Eu amo tênis, jogo desde pequeno, e gostaria muito de fazer mais pelo esporte e por vc, que pra mim, revolucionou conteudos sobre. Enfim, gostaria de uma chance de conversar com vc pra, quem sabe, podermos trabalhar juntos. No mínimo, será uma boa conversa. (Escrevo em português pra tentar chamar sua atenção, mas falo inglês fluente se precisar) Grande abraço
Probably stupid question but did you hear about the atp baseline program? If you finish in top 250 you guaranteed 75k prize money. I wonder if you had that in mind in the year end grind
You play depending on the league, 6-8 matches, mostly between beginning Mai/June to August and you get money for every match you play plus a winning-fee. And depending which league you play, here in germany we have a tennis-bundesliga, which is the best payed on in europe, you get up to 20.000€ a match (that was paid for Philip Kohlschreiber for example, but he was ATP Top30. But even Chechinato got around 10.000€ min. Guess F. Cerundolo gets more, he played last year also Bundesliga, like Christian Garin, Griekspoor, Van de Zandschulp and other Top 100 players. In the 2nd bundesliga, they pay up to 1500-2000$ per match max.
Tennis is the hardest sport to make money at as a pro. You could warm baseball benches and play a few games per season and make $500k guaranteed salary.
I'm curious to know if the quoted expenses include the following which would often be part of a normal employment package: Health insurance to cover treatment and loss of earnings, pension contributions, life insurance. Those things add up to quite a bit each month.
@@KaruesellHQ Interesting - thanks for the info. So actually to make a like for like comparison you would add in a cost for those things too - makes it an even worse deal. I think a lot of people look at a player's winnings and think it's a net salary. You'd make more money coaching!
What are your thoughts on players that basically only play futures/challengers in their country? Looking at guys like Yan Bai, Tai Sach, etc. is this a sustainable way to not make money since there’s limited costs?
If it makes it cheaper for them, go at it. Would love to be in a similar situation. Italy has done a tremendous job with that, providing opportunities. Now look how many Italians we got
@@nelsonagholor1097 don’t know about Tai Sach, but for Yan Bai, I can tell you sports in China are way different. The department of sports go looks for little kids who deems to have potential and trains them for free, and they get paid by the government so they don’t need to work another job. Things don’t work the same in China.
Sound like you need a person like me. Professional driver, bouncer,ball feeder, stringer, etc ,etc., that works for free. Have been a home educator and know a empty nester. I play tennis almost every day with all the foot tendonitises. Lol. Not really that sucks . I live in the very southern tip of Clark County (Laughlin) and would be great experience to be a tennis assistant. Either way I will be watching. "Stay true to thy dreams of thy youth"-V.S. J. McGuire
Karue. I didn't get to watch all of the video, so maybe you mention these points, but I quickly looked and the prize money of the guys ranked the three spots above you was, on average $93k, earned from an average of 29 events. Your $38k across 22 tournaments = $1,700 per event, while theirs is approaching twice that amount at $3,200. Maybe this is due to your ratio of points earned (40%) in the lower prize money ITF events, but I think it shows that with a full year of Challengers+ in 2025 you definitely can have a considerably better financial year. Also, if you are set up correctly, I would think all of those expenses should be deductible and therefore you should only pay taxes on any net earnings (although I could be wrong). Either way, keep it up. Caught quite a few of your matches on the Challenger streaming. Tremendous progress this year. Now if we can also get Marcos to crack top 30 next year we will be in business.
yes if I play a full season in the challengers I’ll be earning a lot more. That’s why this season is kind of an interesting study case as I played half the year on ITFs, half in challengers. The main thing is to make slam qualies so once you are top 200 you can earn a lot more
it's totally crazy. 4th, 5th even 6th division footballers are making more money per year than someone ranked 200 in the world and the club covers their expenses. And yet the prize money for the grand slams are way into the double digit millions. It's almost like a feudal system with a few lords and thousands of peasants.
@@KaruesellHQ That also depends to the amount of spectators. Watch the 3rd or 4th round of an ATP250 and you have 20 spectators, max, on ATP125 even less, especially in exotic countries... 4th devision football here in germany, you have sometimes already some tousands, if it is a local derby...
It's a shame! Tennis is basically choking itself. There should be more support for aspiring pros (profit sharing etc). With this model, I'm sure there are thousands of talented players who can't afford to make a go at it. Can you write off all those expenses?
At just 17.5%, tennis players receive the smallest share of total revenues compared to other major sports. That is the problem. Greed by the tournament owners and the fact that tennis tournaments are marketed, not players who remain chattel.
The comment/tweet has nothing to do with shame; it has to do with the fact that you get a McDonalds job out of highschool with no prior experience. You get a job playing pro tennis after a life-long struggle.
So true Winston, I love McDonald's (may be too much 😅) and am also a big fan of Karue. If Karue makes it to top 10 (no pressure, but I think he can even go higher), I hope he does a cameo there😊
I know/hope you’re being sarcastic aha but seriously crazy to think doing a job like McDonald’s that most people can do and being top 300 pro tennis player (very few can do) is equivalent 😅
I've heard that major sponsorships are basically only available for the top 30ish players (heard from various tennis podcasts). Brands are very stingy when it comes to sponsoring tennis players financially. You are plenty likeable Karue! 🙂
Yes they are. But I think there are interesting opportunities for brands to give some content creators more access. For example, I can practice with any player in the world. Easy way to get views and promote a product, right? Look at what golf brands do. They unfortunately don’t see it yet
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months and barely made it out the first round of tournaments
I feel like it would really help the players if the ATP had a $50K salary for anyone in the top 300-200. $500K/year seems feasible, although I don't know all of their business details.
Yonex and Lacoste should sponsor you. Karue sells.
Karue $ell
Karue $$$ell 😂
He most likely get equipment for free I refuse to believe he pays for Lacoste gear.
@@jayozz4443 he says in the video he is getting equipment for free but doesnt get paid by them
@@alexsheets9085 i know he already sponsored by lactose idk about yonex doesn’t use stencil . But y should he get payed to use them ?? Free good enough . The only product kaure should get payed for tennis wise is toroline only thing he actual market.
Reminds me of the old Mastercard commercials
- $3,500 stringing fees
- $35,000 travel expenses
- earning ATP #259 in my first year turning 30 - PRICELESS 👏
Hahahah yes
Hopefully you break into that 250 ranking barrier. Didn't Djokovic fight for a minimum wage of $75K for top 250?
trying to find this commercial but to no avail :(
It disgusts me that tennis doesn't pay the top 100.. usd500k.. the next 100 usd250k and the next 100 usd100k basic appearance... it's terrible.
Flight allowance
Insurance
Hotel allowance.
What is this crap?
It makes me sad...
@@BN-em9qx that's how capitalism works though.
Where does the money come from if there are no viewers?
Maybe the Challenger tournaments could set up a local schedule for premium lessons with players in a tournament?? Just one hour a day for a $200-300 lesson with a pro. The pro just feeds balls to their student, little physical effort, but can make some extra money while engaging tennis fans.
Great idea. Some do pro ams
People would totally pay for that locally
Great idea
@@BobbySimpson i actually had this idea as a startup but couldnt find anyone to build it with
@@NiallCooney only in America outside even 50 dollars is significant
Bottom line is: Playing professional tennis is an expensive hobby
I think the real Bottom line is that playing pro tennis is almost solely for the wealthy.
Yep, except top 100. 100-200 probably do OK as well. Over 200.... don't do it for the money; do it if you have the chops to eventually get into the top rankings, or in this case likely, if you are enjoying an expensive hobby.
But it was expensive to get that far@@loveandabcs
I really hope one of those big name companies endorses you! I think it’s very inspiring to make a come back at your age and move up your ranking by hundreds! Keep it up man, we’re all rooting for you!
Yep...he really has a story to tell...
The “BuT yOU ChOse TO pLAy prO TenNIS” is incoming. 😂 spare us from your stupidity! Thank you everyone else for the support this year, LITERALLY couldn’t haven’t done it without the channel!
Will be pulling for you in 2025. Hoping you can get your feet firmly planted on the Big tour. Rock on!
Espero assistir mais jogos teus nos challengers do ano que vem!
Make US Open please, so that we can watch you play in flushing meadow.
My friend beat top 10 players in the 1970s. He also gave Stan Smith, when #1, a run for his money. He played Jimmy Connors in one of his first pro tourneys, but lost 6-4, 6-4. My friend couldn't afford to go on the tour back then and became a teaching pro.
Former womens doubles #1 Renae Stubbs brother, Rodney, was actually better at tennis than Patrick Rafter as a late teenager but he made much better money with his day job so he never pursued the tour. We always thought he might have been full of it until Peter Doohan (beat Boris Becker at Wimby) moved to our area, and Rodney crushed him 4 & 3. Granted they were both in their 40's at the time, and Rodney was 8 years younger or so.
I feel like Yonex and Lacoste should be paying you. No doubt that countless people have bought a Percept because of you. But then, why would they pay you if you're already giving them free airtime? Sadly, you'd have to paint your racket and wear a different brand of clothes to get them to the negotiating table.
As an accountant, this is fascinating. Great content as always Karue. Team mustache FTW.
Yeah I wonder what kind of creative tax options he would have to get some of that tax back
As someone who isn't an accountant, do you have an accountant doing your taxes for each country you visit? Because you should be getting most of that pre-paid tax back from most countries.
@buddhikaw it depends on whether an accountant's fees would be more than the tax that could be recovered
Declare domicile in a state/country that does not impose income taxes. He would still have to pay federal taxes (if in USA) but receives credits for the taxes automatically imposed from winnings when doing your tax return.
You can also set up an LLC/Trust in a “tax haven” state, and flow your income through said entity. That however is a much much more expensive process to set up and maintain.
@@JonB516 Yeah, interesting strategy; however "declaring domicile" can be incredibly challenging, requires meticulous planning and comes with residency regulations.. He would have to totally change his life around.
250 is pretty good ranking
Congrats man.keep going 👍
Hahaha what an understatement
You had some great wins over grand slam qual level players this year. Looking forward to "Being Pro at 31".
Keep going man. Great to watch you play!
You deserve a big endorsement for what you have done for the sport. You are out here following your dream and making the most incredible tennis content at the same time, whether it is day-in-the-life type stuff, video lessons, product reviews, etc.. Most people who love tennis, consume tennis media, and play USTA events at any level know who you are and are big fans because despite being an elite athlete you are just a normal guy who is very relatable. Best of luck in 2025 and beyond! Hopefully many years from now we will get to listen to you as a pundit for big events!
appreciate it!
So give him your money then
This is why match fixing at the lower levels was/is a big problem
really really good content. thank you so much for posting this, very valuable information for players and coaches.
Very interesting breakdown. Thank you for sharing the details and for sharing the experience over the year.
You’re extremely likable!! Love the channel, and hoping you get a nice contract with a tennis sponsor!!
Reminds me of a player who was a top 200 both singles and doubles,in his prime. He was in a few GSs main draw and qualifiers but didn’t make far. At that time he was paid a basic salary by his tennis association. His earnings were his to keep but his spending came out from his salary and sponsorship. He is now a full time coach and he promotes racquets and products for his sponsors.
Dude, you're probably the most likeable tennis pro out there. It's why I keep coming back to your videos even though I'm not a regular player anymore. Very humble guy 👍
At least this career move helps boost your channel !! I think you're bound to get a sponsor ship deal soon Karue! Love your grind, content and the willingness to chase your dream 🎉
Great video, Karue. Very informative and educational. The prize money and overall marketing at the Challenger level needs to improve. The average fan doesn’t realize how strong the level and talent is in the 100-300 ranking range.
There's no price to being able to do what you love. You made the right decision, for sure!
Thank you
What? Of course there is a price. One has to support themself eventually.
I don’t know anyone who does a job that they would do for free.
There have been several books about the pro tour going back its earliest days. One common theme in all of them is that only players consistently in the top 100-150 make a reasonable living, and the only ones actually doing truly well financially are the top 50-ish. Top 20-ish get most of the prize money and basically all the sponsorship money. This has been true for the entire open era. Most of the players who have gotten to those top levels were either already wealthy or had been spotted very young and gotten tons of financial help from federations, academies, etc. it’s interesting to see Karue’s numbers, but also interesting to see how little has changed in players’ financial journey.
It has gotten better but still lagging behind other individual sports given how popular tennis is worldwide
That’s how it should be. There is not much room in this world for people making a living doing an activity that is recreational for 99.9% of everyone else.
You're a warrior. Impressive brother.
This is really thoughtful, Karue, thank you. There are two topics here that interest me; first, how could prize money (and perks) be distributed more evenly? And second, what can be done from a marketing perspective to increase the amount of people attending events? I know I would love to see some of these things but I never know when or where they are, you really have to be a hardcore fan. Would love to see a lot more engagement on UA-cam and other platforms from the events themselves to get people interested and excited to show up. Today it seems the sport is leaning way to heavily on the fact that players either come from rich families or else make extreme sacrifices to keep their kid on the court.
I would think given your honesty and ability to breakdown your own game in an objective manner tennis companies would line up to work with you.
I played in college and have been a teaching pro since 2000. When I first got into teaching Wilson would send free product with a phone call and Head as well. Now companies are very reluctant to hand out free product.
One day they will see the potential of collaborating. For now I’ll keep focusing on W’s
I know a pro playing also at top 300 level,who bought himself a compact and light stringing machine he travels to tournaments with. By stringing himself he gets consistent quality and saves a lot of money. Apparently many stringers at the events are not always doing a great job. The machine costs a lot less than what You spent on the stringing, but You obviously have to put in the time to do it by yourself.
I left tennis but never left this channel.. Truly inspiring to follow your pro at 30 journey.
well thank you! Did you go into pickleball or what?
That´s VERY interesting...thanks dude....an eye opener for sure....
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank so much for your content
Hello Karue! How many times have you been tested for doping on this adventure?
Yes A few times
Strted using LMNTs because of your channel!
If you break through to the ATP tour you'll get an endorsement deal. Good luck for 2025!
Not surprised my man. Really need to get up there in the rankings to start making good bucks and finding endorsements. Keep working bro
I’m glad you let him know. I’m sure he never considered that.
I started to use Gruns because of your channel. Thanks for the insights on tennis pro-life. ATP has to do a better job spreading out the riches to encourage more aspiring and talented players.
Thank you for the consistently informative content you post. I find learning about the “nuts and bolts” of professional tennis more interesting than yet another interview/video/analysis of the very top players. A few questions for the next Q&A session:
1) I heard from a handful of tennis instructors that you can separate players based on how many shots they can hit in a minute (I suppose because it goes to show how much speed they can generate and whether they can stay in a fast-paced rally). What’s your view/experience about this? And if you believe that this is true, what would you say is the number of shots/minute a player must be comfortable to hit to play at a professional level?
2) Can players at your level “fix their own shots” without the help of a coach? Say you are traveling, and your serve is off. Can you spot what the issue is by watching yourself on video and address the issue for the following match? From listening to Roddick’s podcast and seeing at Indian Wells a few players hitting with a coach other than their regular coach, it seems that players do need coaches to improve an aspect of their technique.
3) How do you explain success later in the career of a professional tennis player? Think Wawrinka, or Mannarino, or Eubanks.
4) On a similar note: to which extent, if any, would you say that being older than many promising players (eg. Holt) is an advantage when you play against them? How much being more mature as a person has made you a better player?
5) Likelihood that the German former no. 2 in the world will award you a wild card for the qualies in Indian Wells???
6) Would like to see videos of you testing racquets and shoes. Clearly, those are very personal choices, but it would be interesting to see what a player of your caliber looks for in a racquet (even though you may end up modifying it to fit your game) and shoes. Tennis Warehouse should jump on this opportunity!
One last thought: I support your sponsors to support you, but also because - in my experience - you work with cool companies. For example, LMNT is a great product, and the company does take care of their customers with freebies every now and then.
Good luck with your preparation for the next season and for the actual season!
Absolutley lovely content Karue! I have been following your journey on the pro circuit and it is amazing that you talk about this subject and you do it so well. I truly believe that this kind of conversations is having an impact on this matter. All of you guys play at an insane level and really should be compensated more than a fastfood chef hahah😂 Keep it up man you legend❤
hopefully it is having an impact. Again, I can live of my online presence but that also took years. Most players don’t have that so I am not the best study case
What that is crazy never knew! Thanks for the video really enjoy it
So glad you broke Top 300 this year!. Let's go Top 200+ in 2025!!!
Very interesting video. A lot of people don't fully understands that becoming a tennis pro is one of the hardest things to achieve. Close to 98% of the tennis players will not make it to the top 50 in their lifetime playing tennis. As a psychologist I was interested in a certain aspect of the tennis and I started chatting with some lower level players. Well my eyes were opened wide to just how hard it is to actually be able to afford to play pro tennis. Not one of the players had any real experience with a performance psychologist which surprised me. Of course the US college players did have a psychologist but most didn't once they went on tour on their own. I have to take my hate off to people who go after their dream and do whatever it takes just to play a tennis match I actually think that it's more impressive than the big players success. So fair play to you Karue and you are 100% correct about UA-cam that without it a lot of players would not be able to play pro tennis.
You are wrong, it is more about 99,9 % which won´t get pro ! 🙂 To get in the Top 50, add a 9 behind the last one...
@stefanthomassen4750 98% thats what the research we carried out told us. There is no sport where just .1% make it. Even military special forces who have a high failure rate are still better odds than making the top 50 on pro tennis. Part of the reason is there are so many pro tennis players around the world and that is supported with many tournaments atcthe lower levels of tennis. So becoming a pro tennis player is not hard getting an ATP or WTA point is very hard.
Osjla llegues al ranking top 100! Éxitos!
Congratulations for showing reality. Great video!
Well done on finding a way to make it work!
I wonder if i can start a you tube channel called “trying to beat the old ducks at social tennis” to fund some lessons :P
Awesome video.
The ATP and WTA should have a pool of coaches that receive a small salary each year. The challenge tour players could then pick from the list for a tournament. Provides exposure for aspiring coaches and gives the players a coach. If they mesh, then the relationship maybe sticks. Similar system to public defenders.
Awesome content
you are likeable Karue, you're my idol
lol thank you!
Nice vídeo.
Great video, too honest even 😅 You need a stiffer racquet with more power though, no way around that. Nishikori has a custom 100 18x20 with 70RA, you'd need something like that. Since you play really flat on some shots, you probably don't want to play with 16x19, but you should. You'd be able to handle spinny slowballing much better, balls you can't flat counterpunch at all. Then you give pace to those balls, trying to create a point, but then you get counterpunched because you gave him nice flat pace etc
Hey Karue, do you think you will play French open?
Yes if his ranking allows .
11:50 lol. Is that Winston Du? 12:35 Giron? I need to get off the internet...
Dude, I really wish your body holds up and help you make it. Q&A: Is where you are at better or worse than you had imagined? Very happy with what you are able to accomplish this year!
Let’s go Karue!💪🏻💪🏻
THIS is the video that people need to see. Thank you for documenting this & for your transparency!
Also, shameless plug for UTR Pro Tennis Tour events. We offer guaranteed prize money & number of matches. We are offering more paths for players to make a living to play tennis professionally!
hahah hey this all started with UTR events, so plug all you want!
Nice Artyon Senna model!
Mr. Sell,
do you do some coaching during spare time?
No time recently
Very interesting... thanks
No injuries?
Sore shoulder, feet issues, muscle, or tendon strains?
Quite remarkable!
Curious about frequency of stringing in a tournament. Would having additional rackets help lower the cost? If they ever had a tournament in my town I would be happy to string for material cost only.
Thanks for the analysis! Could you help me with something unrelated: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?
Karue - what's the watch you're wearing? Looks very fresh, but can't tell from the video
Gshock
I’m not sure if you’ve already made something on this but I’d love to see a video on your ideas on how to rework challengers and ITF’s.
Obviously would be great if prize pools increase and accommodations were paid for but I’m not sure how profitable these tournaments are to run?
Maybe some sort of regional circuits where players all travel together from tournament to tournament? I don’t really have many ideas myself, would love to know what you think!
Where does the money come from?
What strings do you use and what tension?
Krue thats crazy. No wonder people goto Golf, Soccer/Football. In UK 60min on inside court is £35. Unfortunately its an elitist sport.
Keep doing what your doing tipping point is around the corner.
You have many fans in London.
Have a good Christmas and New Year.
How does it work with rental cars? In a place like Drummondville that's over an hour from Montreal, does the hotel have a shuttle bus or something to take you to the hotel/tournament? How do you get around the city otherwise during off days?
I think the tournament has drivers to and from the players' hotel(s). Players request a driver at a certain time. A car company or a dealership, such as Mercedes, supplies the cars. The tournament in my city does this, and local people volunteer for the driver position, as well as many other positions at the tournament.
@loveandabcs yeah my question is more everything else. Like if the tournament isn't close to an airport
And living in California has to be tough
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months
🤷♂️
Parents (?)
Great job Karue! Watched you for years and even remember you winning Moraga. Shave mustache but grow slight chin hair or just go full J. Depp and sponsor money will flow....sounds like a joke but listen to the guy who played Tobias on Arrested Development talk about how executives think regarding this absurdity.
"Winner-takes-all" effect. Applies to the music industry, pro sports, arts, ...
Applies to work that is not really work.
Karue, eu acompanho vc desde os primórdios do mytennishq. E achei genial seu projeto do turning pro at 30. E descobri q vc é brasileiro no meio dessa jornada. E achei o máximo!
Além disso, acho toda sua pauta de conteúdo muito foda, inclusive essa.
Gostaria muito de conversar com vc sobre projetos. Eu acredito muito no seu potencial e nesse novo formato de conteúdo que vc vem trazendo sobre tênis. Netflix tentou fazer algo com match point, mas entendo que não era o formato correto. Acredito muito na sua forma de inovar e falar sobre o tênis. Eu amo tênis, jogo desde pequeno, e gostaria muito de fazer mais pelo esporte e por vc, que pra mim, revolucionou conteudos sobre.
Enfim, gostaria de uma chance de conversar com vc pra, quem sabe, podermos trabalhar juntos. No mínimo, será uma boa conversa.
(Escrevo em português pra tentar chamar sua atenção, mas falo inglês fluente se precisar)
Grande abraço
Ola! Muito obrigado. Mande email info@mytennishq.com e podemos conversar
Bro thanks for your info . I love playing tennis a lot but I don't think Tennis is good career choice in general .
How high in the rankings do you think you can go?
Aiming at the top 200 for 2025
@@KaruesellHQ Judging by how well you've done so far, I think that's doable. Good luck! 🤞
isn't that crazy that Egypt and Tunisia have more tournaments then US, or other parts of Europe!
Probably stupid question but did you hear about the atp baseline program? If you finish in top 250 you guaranteed 75k prize money. I wonder if you had that in mind in the year end grind
Great content good luck for 25 😂
Bro, this can't be accurate. Tomic is ranked 214 and makes millions.
The Lord makes more money than the Big 3 combined.
Does anyone know how do these club leagues work in europe?
You play depending on the league, 6-8 matches, mostly between beginning Mai/June to August and you get money for every match you play plus a winning-fee. And depending which league you play, here in germany we have a tennis-bundesliga, which is the best payed on in europe, you get up to 20.000€ a match (that was paid for Philip Kohlschreiber for example, but he was ATP Top30. But even Chechinato got around 10.000€ min. Guess F. Cerundolo gets more, he played last year also Bundesliga, like Christian Garin, Griekspoor, Van de Zandschulp and other Top 100 players. In the 2nd bundesliga, they pay up to 1500-2000$ per match max.
@stefanthomassen4750 thanks mate!
A truly remarkable achievement! But how is it possible that expenses can’t be offset against prize money?
Tennis is the hardest sport to make money at as a pro. You could warm baseball benches and play a few games per season and make $500k guaranteed salary.
Minor league baseball players barely get paid tho
@@bluephoenix8630 minor leaguers’ salaries usually suck, but at least a bunch of them get signing bonuses to make things easier at first
Its only hard if you are not good enough.
@@JAM-fm8lt what insight!
I'm curious to know if the quoted expenses include the following which would often be part of a normal employment package: Health insurance to cover treatment and loss of earnings, pension contributions, life insurance. Those things add up to quite a bit each month.
We have none of those benefits as players. ATP has a few options but they are costly. We are not employees, we are independent contractors
@@KaruesellHQ Interesting - thanks for the info. So actually to make a like for like comparison you would add in a cost for those things too - makes it an even worse deal. I think a lot of people look at a player's winnings and think it's a net salary. You'd make more money coaching!
This needs more attention or we will be losing out on good potential players purely due to financial reasons
Lots of players decide to stop along the way for this matter
That’s not a problem
What are your thoughts on players that basically only play futures/challengers in their country? Looking at guys like Yan Bai, Tai Sach, etc. is this a sustainable way to not make money since there’s limited costs?
If it makes it cheaper for them, go at it. Would love to be in a similar situation. Italy has done a tremendous job with that, providing opportunities. Now look how many Italians we got
@@nelsonagholor1097 don’t know about Tai Sach, but for Yan Bai, I can tell you sports in China are way different. The department of sports go looks for little kids who deems to have potential and trains them for free, and they get paid by the government so they don’t need to work another job. Things don’t work the same in China.
Sound like you need a person like me. Professional driver, bouncer,ball feeder, stringer, etc ,etc., that works for free. Have been a home educator and know a empty nester. I play tennis almost every day with all the foot tendonitises. Lol. Not really that sucks . I live in the very southern tip of Clark County (Laughlin) and would be great experience to be a tennis assistant. Either way I will be watching.
"Stay true to thy dreams of thy youth"-V.S.
J. McGuire
conclusion if you want to be a professional tennis player, you must have a sugar daddy.
Just like motorsports.. if you're good enough, _and_ have a rich family, you might make it!
Cada vez mais a presença em Grand Slam é necessária para que o jogador se mantenha no tour.
Karue. I didn't get to watch all of the video, so maybe you mention these points, but I quickly looked and the prize money of the guys ranked the three spots above you was, on average $93k, earned from an average of 29 events. Your $38k across 22 tournaments = $1,700 per event, while theirs is approaching twice that amount at $3,200. Maybe this is due to your ratio of points earned (40%) in the lower prize money ITF events, but I think it shows that with a full year of Challengers+ in 2025 you definitely can have a considerably better financial year. Also, if you are set up correctly, I would think all of those expenses should be deductible and therefore you should only pay taxes on any net earnings (although I could be wrong). Either way, keep it up. Caught quite a few of your matches on the Challenger streaming. Tremendous progress this year. Now if we can also get Marcos to crack top 30 next year we will be in business.
yes if I play a full season in the challengers I’ll be earning a lot more. That’s why this season is kind of an interesting study case as I played half the year on ITFs, half in challengers. The main thing is to make slam qualies so once you are top 200 you can earn a lot more
@@KaruesellHQ I'm sure you can crack the top 200 next year
9:37 Some silent shots fired at @TennisBrothers? 👀
What watches are you wearing in this video?
Gshock
To be a top 250 in a sport and not being able to break even is crazy!
it's totally crazy. 4th, 5th even 6th division footballers are making more money per year than someone ranked 200 in the world and the club covers their expenses. And yet the prize money for the grand slams are way into the double digit millions. It's almost like a feudal system with a few lords and thousands of peasants.
Hahah I mean it is the nature of individual sports. Just the way it is. But money could be better distributed
@@KaruesellHQ That also depends to the amount of spectators. Watch the 3rd or 4th round of an ATP250 and you have 20 spectators, max, on ATP125 even less, especially in exotic countries... 4th devision football here in germany, you have sometimes already some tousands, if it is a local derby...
Soccer is popular. Tennis is not. It’s just numbers.
UPS pays even better plus it builds strength and endurance which helps on court performa. Win Win Win. 😅
Lolol go UPS
hey karue were you able to capitalize on some of the new prize money incentives being offered by the atp in 2025 and beyond
do they treat u as a new or returning player bc if new u could get the bag for entering t300 for the first time
It's a shame! Tennis is basically choking itself. There should be more support for aspiring pros (profit sharing etc). With this model, I'm sure there are thousands of talented players who can't afford to make a go at it.
Can you write off all those expenses?
Absolutely!
Talented players do not spend more than 1 years playing at futures.
At just 17.5%, tennis players receive the smallest share of total revenues compared to other major sports. That is the problem. Greed by the tournament owners and the fact that tennis tournaments are marketed, not players who remain chattel.
Completely false. The money in tennis is microscopic compared to football or basketball or baseball.
you said in the video you get paid to go to college tennis, how does that work exactly?
no shame in working at mcdonalds
The comment/tweet has nothing to do with shame; it has to do with the fact that you get a McDonalds job out of highschool with no prior experience. You get a job playing pro tennis after a life-long struggle.
So true Winston, I love McDonald's (may be too much 😅) and am also a big fan of Karue. If Karue makes it to top 10 (no pressure, but I think he can even go higher), I hope he does a cameo there😊
Zero shame!
I know/hope you’re being sarcastic aha but seriously crazy to think doing a job like
McDonald’s that most people can do and being top 300 pro tennis player (very few can do) is equivalent 😅
Meal of champions!
Quanto vc ganhou jogando duplas na temporada? Pq isso pode ajudar a tornar positiva essa conta.
I've heard that major sponsorships are basically only available for the top 30ish players (heard from various tennis podcasts). Brands are very stingy when it comes to sponsoring tennis players financially. You are plenty likeable Karue! 🙂
Yes they are. But I think there are interesting opportunities for brands to give some content creators more access. For example, I can practice with any player in the world. Easy way to get views and promote a product, right? Look at what golf brands do. They unfortunately don’t see it yet
The moment that mustache is gone sponsors will start rolling in. You will see!
The moustache is the only reason I watch his videos
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months and barely made it out the first round of tournaments
I feel like it would really help the players if the ATP had a $50K salary for anyone in the top 300-200. $500K/year seems feasible, although I don't know all of their business details.
u should get sponsored by a stringer!