Battling to break even: The realities of life on the tennis tour
Calum Puttergill and Dane Sweeny aren’t your average tennis players. “We grew up on the Sunshine Coast, so we're probably more on the hippy side of things,” Puttergill says.
“We're a little bit different to other tennis players in the sense that we’ll walk around with no shoes and no shirt.”
But even though they are unique, they epitomise the realities, for many, of life on the pro tennis tour - the daily struggles that people are prepared to put themselves through to play the sport for a living.
Calum Puttergill and Dane Sweeny hit the courts in Australia. Credit: Calum Puttergill
Calum Puttergill and Dane Sweeny hit the courts in Australia. Credit: Calum Puttergill
Both raised in Queensland, Australia, they naturally got to know each other through playing at their local club.
But their friendship truly blossomed when Puttergill offered the spare room in his Brisbane apartment to Sweeny so that he could train at the state tennis base during his final year of high school.
Fast forward seven years and Sweeny, now 23, is an explosive singles player, currently ranked at 237 in the world, while Puttergill, 30, is an experienced doubles pro at the peak of his game, sitting at a career high of 145.
Building and maintaining relationships is particularly challenging for professional athletes, especially when frequently travelling between continents.
Partly for this reason, the two decided to synchronise their tennis schedules for periods of the season - a practice they have been trying to stick to since they began earning from tournaments.
“It makes life on the tour more enjoyable,” Sweeny explains.
When convenient, they will travel together, sharing hotel rooms and competing in the same tournaments. This companionship provides much-needed morale boosts, helping them endure the demands of life on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The Challenger Tour is the men’s professional tennis circuit that sits just below the main tour, with players vying to gain those all-important ranking points in order to move up and be eligible for the high-profile tournaments where prize money is at its peak.
For some, it’s a valuable stepping stone to a more successful career but, for the vast majority, it remains an unbreakable barrier.
Different categories of tournament on the men's professional tennis circuit. Numbers stated are the amounts of ranking points awarded to the winner of the event.
"It's an addiction - living this pursuit, but if you take away the things I think tennis could give me, I don't think I would play."
Dane Sweeny
The prize money for events on the 2024 Challenger Tour ranges from £30,000 to £170,000. However, this is total prize money, with the winner of the single’s draw pocketing somewhere between only £4,000 and £24,000, depending on the event. Still not bad for a week’s work though, right?
Prize money for the singles event of the 2024 Nottingham Challenger 75 tournament. Source: Perfecttennis
Prize money for the singles event of the 2024 Nottingham Challenger 75 tournament. Source: Perfecttennis
Above is an example of the amount of money that is passed through to the Challenger Tour. The significant disparities can be made apparent when compared with an ATP 250 event such as below - the lowest tier of tournament on the main ATP Tour.
Prize money for the singles event of the 2024 Geneva ATP 250 tournament. Source: Perfecttennis
Prize money for the singles event of the 2024 Geneva ATP 250 tournament. Source: Perfecttennis
This accentuates the importance of every match for Challenger Tour players, and just how much is really at stake each week.
“On paper, it does actually seem quite glamorous,” Sweeny says with a wry smile. “You get to stay at hotels, you’re getting free breakfast, balls and usually pretty good tennis centres to train at.
“But I feel it’s more of the lifestyle that people don’t really understand - the constant travel, the financial struggles.”
In April, Sweeny played the 125 Challenger in Busan, South Korea, where he made the second round of the singles event and quarter-finals of the doubles.
But after paying his expenses, most notably his coach's accommodation and flights, he registered a net loss for the week.
“It’s the level just below a tour event, so it should be paying pretty well, yet I’m still down,” Sweeny says.
Dane Sweeny believes prize money should be funnelled down better to Challenger Tour players
Dane Sweeny believes prize money should be funnelled down better to Challenger Tour players
“You look at a guy that is ranked inside the top 250 in the world, and he is losing money,” Puttergill adds.
“World’s 250th ranked player in a sport? And the third biggest sport in the world? I think that’s a bit of a broken system.”
Is it worth the risk?
From the outside, pursuing a career without guaranteed weekly profits might not seem wise, but these two Australians are confident about their potential.
Though Puttergill and Sweeny are at different stages in their tennis journeys, they share the same goal of climbing the rankings and reaching their peak before retiring.
“It’s quite a risky life. We think we can make it, and make money off the sport but, at the end of the day, you don’t really know."
“If you stay at Challenger level your whole career then you will come out with nothing, but it’s a risk we are all willing to take, it makes it sort of exciting.”
Sweeny was fortunate enough to receive a wildcard into this year’s Australian Open qualifying draw, granting him the opportunity to compete in the main event against the world’s top players.
And the young Aussie grabbed the moment with both hands by beating three higher-ranked opponents in a row to qualify for his maiden grand slam appearance.
Despite losing in the first round, albeit in a tight five-set contest to the No.22 seed Francisco Cerundolo, the 23-year-old received a paycheque of $120,000 AUD (£62,000).
This was a life-changing achievement - one that confirmed his self-belief and proved to the world that he could compete at the highest level alongside tennis' elite.
For a while, Sweeny's father was his full-time coach, but now he has been able to invest in someone that can travel with him and give him the best chance to reach the potential he feels he is capable of.
Unlike his best friend, Puttergill is a doubles specialist, competing primarily in the doubles events on the Challenger Tour. These are often 16-team draws and players only receive a small portion of the tournament's total prize pool, which is then split 50/50 between partners.
Even though the 30-year-old is currently ranked the highest he's ever been and is fresh off the back of celebrating a second Challenger title at the Wuxi 75 in China, life on tour remains a daunting escapade.
Calum Puttergill hopes he can make enough money to play his desired tennis schedule
Calum Puttergill hopes he can make enough money to play his desired tennis schedule
“I love tennis, everyone around me knows that,” Puttergill says. “I’m 30 and I’ve had enough money to keep playing, and that’s my life right now.
“But I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe I could get to the top 50 in the world in doubles and make some money from it.”
Like most, he believes he has the minerals to achieve success in the sport but, due to the way that the doubles tour is operating in 2024, it is an incredibly hard feat.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if doubles got scrapped in a couple of years, I reckon the future of that is bleak. I’m worried about it.”
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) - the governing body of men’s tennis - has recently introduced a new strategy in an attempt to ‘enhance the doubles game’ for players and fans alike.
It includes adjustments to the shot clock to help speed up the flow of the game, but an aspect which has proven controversial is the push for more singles players in doubles events.
At Masters 1000 tournaments, for example, 16 of the 32 slots allocated to teams in the doubles draw are now reserved for players who can gain entry via their singles ranking.
This further alienates the lower-ranked doubles players from entering the top-tier events, significantly limiting their chances of achieving a lucrative career.
“You have to stay inside the world’s top 70 for the whole season to be making any money,” Puttergill adds.
“Anything outside of that is tough, you could even be No.90 in the world in doubles and barely cover your own expenses.”
Prize money earned by Calum Puttergill when competing in doubles tournaments between February and May 2024
The amount of prize money that Puttergill has pocketed since February (£6,850.50) underlines the uncertainty that a career playing doubles on the Challenger Tour is riddled with.
The constant partner switches also add another layer to this uncertainty.
For a variety of reasons, Puttergill has struggled to find a regular teammate, and has played with seven different partners already this year.
It might be a factor contributing to his inconsistency on the court, but it is just another challenge the Australian is prepared to face in order to make ends meet.
He has hovered around No.150 in the world since the turn of 2024, but his recent results suggest that he will rise further, even if it is at a steady pace.
Sweeny, on the other hand, is reaping the rewards of choosing to head down a career in singles. Despite holding a significantly lower equivalent ranking on the singles tour, his prize money since February (£35,377) is over five times that of Puttergill.
Undoubtedly, the singles tour is where the vast majority of the money is at, but the technical ability of doubles players should perhaps not be overlooked in such a punitive way.
Prize money earned by Dane Sweeny when competing in singles tournaments between February and May 2024
And comparing the pair's earnings illustrates just how apparent the disparities between the two tours actually are.
Through his singles ranking of 237, Sweeny gained access to the French Open qualifying draw, and although he was defeated in straight-sets in the first round, he picked up a whopping £17,160 for his appearance.
Meanwhile, Puttergill is yet to set foot anywhere near the hallowed courts of a major, but his time might just be on the horizon.
Life on the Tour
In January of this year, after some friendly persuasion, the pair decided to start a YouTube channel documenting their lives on the tour. Fittingly, they named it Life on the Tour.
“The reception has been incredible,” Puttergill said. “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback.
"One of the motivating reasons was to inspire and educate younger players, and we get a lot of positive messages from those types of players.”
The episodes tend to offer a sobering reality of the struggles that professional tennis players must deal with.
Whether it be suffering a first-round defeat that results in financial deficit for the week or saying goodbye to family members before jetting off across the world for a four month stint, Puttergill and Sweeny expose it all.
And the success of the channel so far is perhaps down to the raw approach they have incorporated into their story-telling.
Calum Puttergill bids farewell to his parents at airport. Credit: Calum Puttergill
Calum Puttergill bids farewell to his parents at airport. Credit: Calum Puttergill
"I’m very close with my family and I would love to spend more time with them and our friends," Puttergill says.
“It’s hard to find the balance when dealing with romantic relationships too."
Puttergill said that he had attempted to ignite a romance before his most recent venture across the globe.
Though upon searching his name on the web, she was possibly surprised to find a YouTube video titled 'Do I have to sell my car to keep playing?' in which he is caught having a momentary breakdown.
“She has probably got that reality check of what life for me is really like," Puttergill explains,."It can be brutal."
Calum Puttergill explains the struggles of life on the Challenger Tour
Calum Puttergill explains the struggles of life on the Challenger Tour
For Puttergill and Sweeny, it is essential to highlight what life is really like on the Challenger Tour and offer valuable advice to others.
While it stands as a bridge that the best players in the world must cross to reach the pinnacle of men's tennis, few ever succeed in making the crucial breakthrough.
Creating a YouTube channel does also ease financial burdens and can mitigate some of the losses, and it has been a tactic deployed by other tennis players in the past.
“It’s a potential source of revenue, and a source of motivation to keep it going,” Sweeny added. “It’s also important to have a social presence these days.”
Though amid all of the challenges, they make sure to feature the high points, too.
From sharing laughter over breakfast in their hotel room to rallying courtside in a remote town in western India to offer support in an empty stadium, the presence of a steadfast friend proves invaluable in alleviating the tour's pressures.
But the battle to break even is far from finished.
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