For the better part of a decade, Tatjana Maria, the veteran German player, has been cramming into cramped hotel rooms with her husband/coach and children, or using her own money to pay for larger ones as she traveled the world with her family so she could be a full-time mom and professional tennis player.
In 2018, CoCo Vandeweghe played most of the season on a broken foot to avoid fines for missing mandatory tournaments. The injury led to a syndrome that left her unable to walk and nearly ended her career.
Without a guaranteed salary, Danielle Collins in 2019 shelled out money she didn’t really have and didn’t know she would earn back to help cover the costs of a full-time coach, physiotherapist and hitting partner to try to break into the upper echelon of a sport that has largely existed for 50 years with an eat-what-you-kill model.
Now, most of the best tennis players in the world have had it with all that, with feeling like they are being treated as the hired help for an organization, the WTA Tour, rather than the star attractions that fans are buying the tickets and tuning in on television to see.
Long-simmering tensions between top players and leaders of their pro tour boiled over in Cancun, Mexico at the WTA Tour Finals. The tipping point was a stadium court at what is…
