The carnival and the pros in tennis by Javier Palenque

Covid19 will be an opportunity of a lifetime for the players to improve their bargaining position with the powers of tennis if they know how to recognize an opportunity when one comes along. This week I have spoken to many players and coaches some among the top 100 others among the top 300. Some have asked me for advice and what could I do to help them. First I am glad they follow my writings and social media to ask me for advice. I did, here is the summary of it.

TOP THREE PROBLEMS TO OVERCOME

1.- Players fail to understand what business they are in.

2.- Fragmentation of the system, by gender, dates, top-ranked players, middle-ranked players and the rest in addition to the fragmentation of pull of the power 7. (GS, WTA, ATP, ITF)

3.- Lack of vision of the whole tennis industry

1.- WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU IN

One thing that as a consultant I do daily is to ask customers to clearly define what business are you in. If we ask this question to the pros they will say: I am an athlete and I am in the professional tennis business. If you ask the same question to the Grand Slams they will say we are in the entertainment business and provide the fans ( better named public) a great experience in food, drinks, cleanliness, variety, a…