Why do tennis leaders have blinders?

By Javier Palenque

Unlike the name suggests, horse blinders, do not blind horses. Horse blinders are firm leather squares or plastic cups that attach to a horse’s bridle or hood and prevent a horse from seeing behind and beside him. Horses that pull wagons and carriages wear them to prevent them from becoming distracted or panicked by what they see behind the wagon. Now that we understand their use in animals, let’s think for a moment about what they mean in the tennis world especially for the power 7 (4 GS, ITF, WTA, ATP).

Last week I saw a report on the Financial Times of London in which the CEO of the ATP along with the past CEO of USTA mention how unlikely it is for the challenger tour to remain a viable option for tennis players if they wish to make money. Mr. Andrea Gaudenzi mentions something true but there is a lot more to the meaning of his words. He said that the challenger tour is an investment like a university that then you use to get a job, meaning the pro tour. Poor Mr. Gaudenzi either has no clue of what he is saying or no filters to what he is saying, but what I heard was this: If you want to be a pro invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the possibility of a tennis career and then maybe break even in the challengers and then join the industry (if you can make it) to be a top 120 player so you can make a living. Wow! that was stupid…