Local tennis pro John Isner should be taking to the Grandstand court at the U.S. Open any minute now to take on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. He says the foot injury that kept him out of the French Open has healed. But I thought you might want to know that Monday, in an essay published by Forbes, the world #14 says that it is surprisingly hard to earn a living these days as a tennis pro. He gives some interesting insights into the logistics of sponsorship deals, and he gives useful tips on how to iron on sponsorship labels (use a thin piece of cloth to keep the thing from melting). But this is the part that really caught my eye:
And winning is hard, which means it’s really hard to bring in prize money consistently. So we have to look elsewhere to boost our paychecks. I’ll make special appearances for sponsors, for instance; I will even coach your child’s tennis team for a small fee [emphasis added]. But that pales in comparison with sponsorships, which are the closest thing to a guaranteed annual salary that a player has.
So, I hope a parent of a player on the W.W. Samuell High School tennis team gives him a call.
And I hope Good Housekeeping and others stop repurposing my feature about John and his wife Madison’s incredible love story by simply adding Instagram photos. You should read the original here.
