Trading cards offer lifeline to low-income players
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - June 28, 2025 General view of tennis balls during Britain's Jack Draper's practice session REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge
LONDON/NEW YORK - A nearly year-old initiative to sell tennis players' trading cards is generating vital extra income for lower earners struggling to make ends meet, its backers said.
While the world's elite tennis players can earn fortunes, with Wimbledon for example offering a record 53.5 million pounds ($73.5 million) in prize money this year, those much further down the rankings often struggle financially.
Winners Alliance, the commercial partner of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) which wants to address the financial disparities, said the new cards had generated around $20 million since they were rolled out in August.
Some 70% of the income has gone to the 400 players signed up.
"You have the 100th best player in the world and they're struggling to make a living," Eric Winston, president of Winners Alliance, told Reuters. "That's not right."
Winners Alliance has teamed up with the Fanatics-owned Topps brand to produce trading cards for the next 20 years, hoping to emulate the huge popularity of such initiatives in other sports such as soccer and U.S. basketball.
The cards, featuring current and former players, are sold online, at hobby shops and on site at big tournaments including the U.S Open and Australian Opens. The latest release on May 15th sold out in 24 hours.
Founded in 2022, Winners Alliance, chaired by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, manages commercial opportunities for sports players and their agents. Its aim is to generate a recurring annual income of $100,000 for all ranked players from trading cards, video games and other income streams.
"The level of players in the top 200 has never been so high... and some can barely make ends meet," said PTPA deputy executive director Romain Rosenberg, citing the example of a player near the top 100 who earned $25,000 one year after deducting taxes, coaching and other unavoidable costs.
Rosenberg contrasted tennis with other sports such as football where even lower-tier players earn large salaries, often without the high costs tennis players face with coaching, travel and health expenses.
"It is still early days but the aim is to emulate the success of U.S. basketball and baseball leagues... even reaching 10% of their revenue in five to 10 years would generate meaningful passive income for players," Rosenberg added.
The PTPA, co-founded by players Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in 2020, has backed various efforts to level the playing field between the haves and have-nots of tennis, including legal aid and health programmes.
Sports trading cards have enjoyed enduring popularity, buoyed by record-breaking sales such as a rookie card of baseball great Mickey Mantle fetching $12.6 million at auction in 2022. REUTERS
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1930 Moody (U.S.) beat Elizabeth Ryan (U.S.) 6-2 6-2 1929 Wills (Moody) (U.S.) beat Jacobs (U.S.) 6-1 6-2 1928 Wills (U.S.) beat Lili de Alvarez (Spain) 6-2 6-3 1927 Wills (U.S.) beat De Alvarez (Spain) 6-2 6-4 1926 Kathleen Godfree (Britain) beat De Alvarez (Spain) 6-2 4-6 6-3 1925 Suzanne Lenglen (France) beat Joan Fry (Britain) 6-2 6-0 1924 Kathleen McKane (Britain) beat Wills (U.S.) 4-6 6-4 6-4 1923 Lenglen (France) beat McKane (Britain) 6-2 6-2 1922 Lenglen (France) beat Molla Mallory (U.S.) 6-2 6-0 Before 1922 the women's singles was decided on a challenge-round system with the previous year's winner automatically qualifying for the final (British unless stated): 1921 Lenglen (France) beat Elizabeth Ryan (U.S) 6-2 6-0 1920 Lenglen (France) beat Dorothea Chambers 6-3 6-0 1919 Lenglen (France) beat Chambers 10-8 4-6 9-7 1915-18 No competition 1914 Chambers beat Ethel Larcombe 7-5 6-4 1913* Chambers beat Winifred McNair 6-0 6-4 1912* Larcombe beat Charlotte Sterry 6-3 6-1 1911 Chambers beat Dora Boothby 6-0 6-0 1910 Chambers beat Boothby 6-2 6-2 1909* Boothby beat Agnes Morton 6-4 4-6 8-6 1908* Sterry beat Morton 6-4 6-4 1907 May Sutton (U.S.) beat Chambers 6-1 6-4 1906 Dorothea Douglass beat Sutton 6-3 9-7 1905 Sutton beat Douglass 6-3 6-4 1904 Douglass beat Sterry 6-0 6-3 1903* Douglass beat Thomson (Larcombe) 4-6 6-4 6-2 1902 Muriel Robb beat Sterry 7-5 6-1 1901 Sterry beat Blanche Hillyard 6-2 6-2 1900 Hillyard beat Charlotte Cooper 4-6 6-4 6-4 1899 Hillyard beat Cooper 6-2 6-3 1898* Cooper beat Louisa Martin 6-4 6-4 1897 Hillyard beat Cooper 5-7 7-5 6-2 1896 Cooper beat Alice Pickering 6-2 6-3 1895* Cooper beat Helen Jackson 7-5 8-6 1894* Hillyard beat Edith Austin 6-1 6-1 1893 Lottie Dod beat Hillyard 6-8 6-1 6-4 1892 Dod beat Hillyard 6-1 6-1 1891* Dod beat Hillyard 6-2 6-1 1890* Lena Rice beat May Jacks 6-4 6-1 1889* Hillyard beat Rice 4-6 8-6 6-4 1888 Dod beat Hillyard 6-3 6-3 1887 Dod beat Hillyard (Bingley) 6-2 6-0 1886 Bingley beat Maud Watson 6-3 6-3 1885 Watson beat Bingley 6-1 7-5 1884 Watson beat Lillian Watson 6-8 6-3 6-3 * Denotes no challenge round. Winner of all-comers' final declared champion. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
