Dominic Thiem declares tennis "a sport for the rich" as the 2021 US Open champion admits there are a lot of expenses to cover if you want to sign up your kid for tennis lessons.
As a kid, Thiem had easy access to tennis since both of his parents were coaches. And after starting to play tennis at the age of six with his father Wolfgang, the Austrian later spent some time at Gunter Bresnik's academy. When he started his pro career, Bresnik was his coach.
Later, Thiem became one of the greatest Austrian tennis players after winning a Grand Slam and reaching a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world.
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Since retiring from pro tennis last year, the former 17-time ATP champion started working on launching his tennis academy. In mid-July, it happened when the 32-year-old announced the launch of his academy in Burgenland.
While Thiem now has his own academy and he wants to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of Austrian players, he is aware that tennis as a sport isn't as accessible as some other sports.
Thiem: You have to spend 80k to 100k per year between the ages of 13-18
"Tennis is a sport for the rich, and you can see that from a very young age. Training, for example, is very expensive. I can tell you that between the ages of 13 and 18, you have to pay between 80,000 and 100,000 euros a year, almost a million euros in total, an amount that no one can afford," the 2021 US Open champion said on the Jot Down Sport podcast.
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During his career, Thiem earned $30 million in tournament prize money. However, a good portion of that went to taxes.
"The first round of Wimbledon gives you �65,000, but you lose more than 60%. First, you have to deduct the taxes of the country you play in, which are deducted from your prize money, then the taxes of your own country, and finally, the expenses related to your team," Thiem explained on the same podcast.
