The prize pool will increase even more if Finland succeeds in the finals of the tennis Davis Cup.
Split
Record prize pool for both players and sports federations.
That’s how handsomely the news about the tennis Davis Cup was reported on the official website at the end of 2022. According to the news, the total prize pool for the players in the final tournament of the 2023 season is 15 million dollars.
At the beginning of the year, Finland made history when it reached the finals of the Davis Cup for the first time.
Did the Finnish tennis players and the sports association have a day of reckoning at the same time, CEO of Tennisliito Teemu Purho?
“I wouldn’t say that at this point it’s still about the day of reckoning,” Purho says proudly in the stands of Split’s tennis arena.
Finland’s top doubles players train on the adjacent court Emil Ruusuvuori and Otto Virtanen. They are looking for their game, because soon the duo will be in real action in Croatia. Finland is the host country in the same group as Croatia, the United States and the Netherlands.
“However, we are talking about such sums that we would love to play here more often.”
Read more: Emil Ruusuvuore’s condition after being ill is a mystery in the historic Davis Cup final tournament
CEO of the Finnish Tennis Association Teemu Purho.
Tennis is a sport where the prize money accepted by the players is public.
Novak Djokovic became richer by three million dollars when the Serb was crowned US Open men’s singles champion a moment ago. Harri Heliövaaran and his partner Anna Danilina in the mixed doubles win, the prize money was 170,000 dollars, or about 158,700 euros.
The distribution of Davis Cup money is not as clear.
Money is distributed both to the union and to the players in accordance with these mutual agreements.
According to Purho, in the final tournament phase, players are earmarked for a certain pot, which increases according to success.
“We have negotiated with the players how that money will be distributed. The ITF (International Tennis Federation) has instructions if we could not reach an agreement with the players. We have not had such a problem.”
The money is not distributed equally to the team members, i.e. Ruusuvuori, Heliövaara, Virtane, To Patrik Niklas-Salmi and Patrick Kaukovallebut for example the ranking of the players and the matches played in the tournament affect the compensation received by an individual player.
Ruusuvuori’s reward for the week in Croatia is therefore greater than Kaukovalla’s.
In any case, the amounts are significant even for those who sit in the stands for the entire tournament.
“Even in the worst case, the total amount to be divided between the players is several hundred thousand euros. This gives the players a great opportunity to finance their careers”, says Purho and refers to Finns who have not put in the effort on the ATP’s lucrative main tour.
Purho reveals that the pot received by the Tennis Association is not as big as the players’, but the association’s coffers are happily ringing.
“We are talking about 200,000 euros in size.”
With the captain of the team, i.e. the all-time Finnish tennis ace Jarkko in Nieminen has its own separate contract with the union, which, according to Purho, has “success bonuses.”
Actual the day of reckoning is also near.
It would require getting through the initial groups of the final tournament to the actual final stage, where the eight best countries reach. Two countries advance from each group.
“Success would further increase the prize pool. After that, the total prize money would already start to be in the millions.”
Finland starts its work in the final tournament of the Davis Cup on Tuesday at 16:00. The opening game is against Holland.