Double fault when all bets are off

Tennis New Zealand faces an uncertain financial future as Kiwis stop betting on the sport.

Like every other sport, professional tennis has been shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

All sports are being impacted by the lack of professional sport, but Tennis NZ is in a particularly tough position because so much of its income is derived from people gambling on matches being played around the world.

The TAB contributes a share of betting turnover and profit to each national sporting organisation on whose matches it takes bets. Depending on the sport, this can be a significant amount of money and for tennis it has increasingly become a vital revenue stream.

Tennis New Zealand’s last annual report in 2019 stated that it received $1,521,777 from the TAB – that was up from $1,179,963 the previous year.

Around 45 per cent of Tennis NZ’s income comes from the TAB each year.

But with no tennis taking place since March that money has dried up and three-time grand slam winner Andy Murray this week predicted the sport would be one of the last to make a return, because of the international nature it.

‘‘I would imagine tennis would be one of the last sports to get back to normality because you’ve obviously got players and coaches and teams coming from all over the world into one area,’’ Murray told CNN. ‘‘I would be surprised if they were back playing sport by September-time,’’ he added.

Wimbledon has already been cancelled, Roland Garros pushed back to start on September 20 and the US Open which is due to begin on August 25 is in doubt.

Officially all tournaments have been cancelled until mid July, but it could be that there’s no professional tennis played for the rest of this year, or even until there is a vaccine for coronavirus, because there is so much international travel done by players.

Tennis NZ CEO Julie Paterson said they have already begun to feel the financial impact of the sport shutting down. ‘‘It has impacted on our revenue already and we’ve seen a reasonably significant drop in revenue,’’ she said.

‘‘I think that in the short term we can sustain that loss. In the longer term it’s going to have a serious impact on our ability to deliver and grow grassroots tennis in the community.

‘‘We’re keeping a watching brief on what may or may not happen and we’re looking for tennis opportunities there could be within New Zealand, what’s happening offshore and keeping a close eye on things, like for example in Australia, are they going to start a circuit up?’’

Last year Tennis NZ spent $415,416 on participation and $693,577 on high performance – both these areas could face cuts because of the lack of money coming from the TAB.

For New Zealand’s professional players the sport’s shutdown means there’s no money coming in for them. Unlike other sports professionals, if they don’t play, they don’t get paid.