When we see sportspeople flouncing about in underwear ads, or see them breaking team rules on a pub crawl through a red light district, it’s seems easy to discount sportspeople and their field of work.
But that’s not the lifestyle for the majority of professional athletes, and this is certainly not the case for Sam Stosur.
For years we’ve all followed Stosur’s turbulent career. From being ranked No.1 in 2006 beside her doubles partner Lisa Raymond, to struggling to find a sponsor before the Australian Open just a few years ago, it’s fair to say it has not been an easy road for the Brisbane-born tennis player.
I realise that in no way did The Roar intend to have a crack at Sam Stosur, but in yesterday’s article, the reference to Stosur’s cash prize of $1.8 million equating to $2,365 a minute, really hit a nerve with me. Some didn’t understand why, so let me explain.
Breaking down winnings per minute seems to happen quite a bit in sports reporting. Being what many would see as a ridiculous amount of money for one minute’s work, it’s a fun fact, designed to draw gasps and make us all wish we could do that.
However it also insults Stosur’s achievement. It makes it sound as if Stosur is getting too much money for just over an hour’s work.
But here’s the thing – she is not being rewarded $1.8 million for just two sets of tennis. It’s not some jo-blow off the street who has just won a Grand Slam. Stosur’s won $1.8 million for more than two decades of blood, sweat and tears.
Hours upon hours of practicing, playing, exercising, travelling, making personal and financial sacrifices, suffering injury and illness, and having little-to-no downtime away from the sport – all for glorious moments like this.
Then there’s the work of the people who have stood by her side too, like family and friends who I’m sure she will gladly share that money with.
Athletes like Sam Stosur put in more work than many realise, and more hard work than some will do in a lifetime. It’s certainly a different type of work than being a doctor, or a plumber, or even writing for a blog!
They may “play” a sport and get paid for it, but in many ways it’s far more difficult than what you or I do.
People think sports professionals are given this “gift” and that’s the end of it – contract, sponsorship, travel, play, win and repeat – though this is definitely not the case.
You may have the talent, plenty of people do, but to be a winner, to compete with the best in your sport, well that requires something extra. Especially if you play an individual sport like tennis because there’s only one person who you can blame when things don’t go your way.
Along with the physical toll of constant training required just to keep up, that mental toll is probably the greatest hurdle sportspeople have to overcome. Handling the pressure and expectation to win is not something every person can do. If it was we’d all be professional sportspeople!
Stosur admitted post-win that her journey has been difficult as a professional tennis player.
“I’ve slept in train stations and stayed in dodgy hotels and done the hard yards through many places,” she told an American newspaper.
And on her website, it wasn’t winning that she admitted as some of the most memorable moments of her career. Instead it’s those low points that she remembers most.
“Sleeping in a train station in Japan with other players and strapping all our bags together so they wouldn’t get stolen. Using blankets from hotel rooms and pillows from airlines. The things you do to make it on the tour,” she writes.
That’s what they’re playing for – the long, hard slog. The money is the just reward for years spent plugging away with just the faintest hopes of greatness.
This type of devotion may be hard for some people to understand. But anyone who has tried and failed, or knows someone who has gone down that road in professional sport, it’s anything but easy.
A prize of $1.8 million sounds like a lot of money to us, because it is. That’s an extravagant amount of money!
But for those select few who make it to the professional ranks of the sporting world, they deserve every single cent.
And in return we get to see the greatest show on earth – professional sport.
Pretty good deal don’t you think?
mushi
Guest
Most of the world actually isn’t all that capitalist and I don’t mean on a technical population based approach but the US for example is as capitalist as Paulie Shore is a shoe in for this year’s best actor Oscar.
mushi
Guest
Whilst I get the point of the time spent breakdown I do think it is tough to say she deserves every cent. Before someone goes all comrade Lenin on me I get and benefit from capitalism but even Buffet and Munger have often said that it is misguided to equate earned with deserved in our society. I have no ill will towards Sam and wish her well with her riches but to suggest that simply because she worked hard she is exponentially more deserving than many other professions is absurd.
Alfred Chan
Expert
They play sport because it is their best chance at succeeding in life. Yes it involves money but I don't admire their ability to make money, I admire their athletic ability which comes from a lifetime of hard work and a little bit of talent. As for their dedication, I think it is different to that of business leaders and politicians. No business leader saw themselves as a business leader since childhood. If I had the dedication of elite sportsman who could dedicate their whole life to their talent, I wouldn't be here writing on this site. You'd all be writing about me!
Johnno
Guest
But that is the point gusbrisbane perception versus reality. Even if these 2 do well and i will throw in Dokic into the mix to, evn if these 3 do well it will gloss over the lack of depth and terminal decline of tennis in australia. Russia and china now have players especial in the woman's draw, coming out left right and centre mysteriously no names suddenly popping up at Q/F and S/Final time. Aussie tennis someone wrote on here an article a while ago all the reasons why, and many wont write them now. But even if Dokic, Tomic, and stosur do well tennis is in terminals eclien in oz i think for multiple reasons. and cricket is in problems to. i think tennis big problem is or quick 1 of many i n australia tennis coaching is so expensive. With say soccer you pay your registration and gear fears which can be a bit buying the gear, but you do no pay hourly rates. With tennis coaching if you want to get any good at the sport like gold you have to pay a lot for coaching. You can buy dvd's which can be good now to, but [yep specialist coaching the regular middle class person can simply not afford all the hours of coaching, and it is not that simple to just send your children to a tennis academy in America far from it. So tennis has problems in Australia everyone for multiple reasons.
sledgeross
Guest
Alfred, why do these sports people play sport then? For the cash or because they enjoy it? Im sorry, but I dont feel any pity for anyone who makes good money, whether they be sportspeople, builders or politicians. I dont their their dedication is any different than anyone else serious about pursuing a career in any profession. Being a professional sportsman is essentially a selfish pursuit, there is very little nobilty in it anymore. To be successful you have to be selfish and have a healthy ego. You have to be singleminded. No one forces them to be a sportsperson (pushy parents notwithstanding). So by all means admire their dedication, but they shouldnt be treated any different to anyone else.
Alfred Chan
Expert
Nice article Melanie. The breakdown of earnings into time spent is ridiculous and somewhat disrespectful. I remember when Ben Graham first made the move to the NFL, there were all these comparisons about how one game of NFL is worth a year in the AFL. These professionals spend their entire lives on their trade and Stosur's whole life has been spent on that $1.8m. People never seem to look at the copious amount of C grade athletes which quite frankly have made money if they began their career as a bricklayer on $58 per hour. Yet those athletes would have spent their whole lives dedicated to something where there is no guarantee of financial success or stability, while also sacrificing what others gain in life and work experience. There are countless sportsman who eventually realise they cannot cut it at the top level and are left with nothing but regret and possibly injuries. In no way did Sam get an easy ride which was what those time/earning breakdowns suggest.
gusbrisbane
Guest
Hey Johnno, I fully understand you differentiated between global tennis and Australian tennis. I have also thought, like you, that tennis in Australia was in terminal decline. It's amazing what a major Champion can do for the public perception of a sport's health. If Stosur does well in Melbourne in 2012, coupled with a good performance by Tomic, all the talk of grim days ahead will be forgotten.
Johnno
Guest
Clearly there is still money in golf and tennis, otherwise these pay days would not exist. They go on about in Australia tennis begin a dying sport, which it probably is, but the OZ open clearly gets enough tv ratings, and crowds to give the big pay days. Novak got about got somewhere between $2 to $2.5 million for his win over rafa today. Rojer federer is finished i think now at 30. He will never win another grand slam i don't think. Oh well Roj has twins to keep him busy.
jameswm
Guest
Alan The worls is not a communist community I'm afraid. Most of it is capitalist and Sam's earnings are driven by market forces. You need to be lobbying the truly rich to donate profits to help others, which many do. And how many sports stars set up their own charitable foundations because, well, they earn so much they can afford to?
alan nicolea
Guest
Melanie - It's not a pretty good deal at all. For me anyway. I have written several articles on this issue months ago. While Stosur has played hard to get where she's at, there are billions of people in far worse situations working in terrible conditions who are getting scraps. My problem concerns the fact that these athletes get paid vast sums of money at the expense of billions around the world who make the very clothes and shoes athletes like Stosur wear in order to play Tennis. If I had to pay the price of giving up watching professional sport, in exchange for sharing the world's finances so that all human beings may have an opportunity to live a suitable life, I would pay it an instant. In short, even though Stosur has had her struggles forging a Tennis career, the fact that she had a platform in the first place to forge a Tennis career is a privilege billions around the world will never experience. I think we have to put things into more perspective before preaching that sports stars deserve every cent they recieve for playing sport for a living.
sledgeross
Guest
I thought Pat lived on a Mantra Resort?
Melanie Dinjaski
Roar Guru
Damn our thriving dollar! That gets taxed too I think..
Soul Ranch
Guest
Maybe to counteract the falling Australian Dollar, she should follow Pat Rafter's lead and 'move' to Bermuda
Brett McKay
Guest
Melanie, my wife mentioned this after we saw all the highlights and reports of Stosur's win on the news last night, and while it's trivial, it's worth factoring in. Sam's $1.8M purse, as well deserved as it is, won't actually be $1.8M thanks to the good old Aussie peso - poor Sam "only" gets $1.738M!!
sledgeross
Guest
I know a bricklayer who makes $58 an hour. Can you imagine his outrage for me posting it in a public forum. I guess the only saving grace is the satisfaction and sense of worth he gets when he finishes building a house after working 6 days a week. ;)