Reminds me of the old Mastercard commercials - $3,500 stringing fees - $35,000 travel expenses - earning ATP #259 in my first year turning 30 - PRICELESS 👏
Maybe the Challenger tournaments could set up a local schedule for premium lessons with players in a tournament?? Just one hour a day for a $200-300 lesson with a pro. The pro just feeds balls to their student, little physical effort, but can make some extra money while engaging tennis fans.
I really hope one of those big name companies endorses you! I think it’s very inspiring to make a come back at your age and move up your ranking by hundreds! Keep it up man, we’re all rooting for you!
As someone who isn't an accountant, do you have an accountant doing your taxes for each country you visit? Because you should be getting most of that pre-paid tax back from most countries.
The “BuT yOU ChOse TO pLAy prO TenNIS” is incoming. 😂 spare us from your stupidity! Thank you everyone else for the support this year, LITERALLY couldn’t haven’t done it without the channel!
Yep, except top 100. 100-200 probably do OK as well. Over 200.... don't do it for the money; do it if you have the chops to hit the top rankings, or in this case likely, if you are enjoying an expensive hobby.
Tennis is the hardest sport to make money at as a pro. You could warm baseball benches and play a few games per season and make $500k guaranteed salary.
You deserve a big endorsement for what you have done for the sport. You are out here following your dream and making the most incredible tennis content at the same time, whether it is day-in-the-life type stuff, video lessons, product reviews, etc.. Most people who love tennis, consume tennis media, and play USTA events at any level know who you are and are big fans because despite being an elite athlete you are just a normal guy who is very relatable. Best of luck in 2025 and beyond! Hopefully many years from now we will get to listen to you as a pundit for big events!
I feel like Yonex and Lacoste should be paying you. No doubt that countless people have bought a Percept because of you. But then, why would they pay you if you're already giving them free airtime? Sadly, you'd have to paint your racket and wear a different brand of clothes to get them to the negotiating table.
Great video, Karue. Very informative and educational. The prize money and overall marketing at the Challenger level needs to improve. The average fan doesn’t realize how strong the level and talent is in the 100-300 ranking range.
My friend beat top 10 players in the 1970s. He also gave Stan Smith, when #1, a run for his money. He played Jimmy Connors in one of his first pro tourneys, but lost 6-4, 6-4. My friend couldn't afford to go on the tour back then and became a teaching pro.
Very interesting video. A lot of people don't fully understands that becoming a tennis pro is one of the hardest things to achieve. Close to 98% of the tennis players will not make it to the top 50 in their lifetime playing tennis. As a psychologist I was interested in a certain aspect of the tennis and I started chatting with some lower level players. Well my eyes were opened wide to just how hard it is to actually be able to afford to play pro tennis. Not one of the players had any real experience with a performance psychologist which surprised me. Of course the US college players did have a psychologist but most didn't once they went on tour on their own. I have to take my hate off to people who go after their dream and do whatever it takes just to play a tennis match I actually think that it's more impressive than the big players success. So fair play to you Karue and you are 100% correct about TH-cam that without it a lot of players would not be able to play pro tennis.
Reminds me of a player who was a top 200 both singles and doubles,in his prime. He was in a few GSs main draw and qualifiers but didn’t make far. At that time he was paid a basic salary by his tennis association. His earnings were his to keep but his spending came out from his salary and sponsorship. He is now a full time coach and he promotes racquets and products for his sponsors.
I started to use Gruns because of your channel. Thanks for the insights on tennis pro-life. ATP has to do a better job spreading out the riches to encourage more aspiring and talented players.
The comment/tweet has nothing to do with shame; it has to do with the fact that you get a McDonalds job out of highschool with no prior experience. You get a job playing pro tennis after a life-long struggle.
So true Winston, I love McDonald's (may be too much 😅) and am also a big fan of Karue. If Karue makes it to top 10 (no pressure, but I think he can even go higher), I hope he does a cameo there😊
I know/hope you’re being sarcastic aha but seriously crazy to think doing a job like McDonald’s that most people can do and being top 300 pro tennis player (very few can do) is equivalent 😅
I would think given your honesty and ability to breakdown your own game in an objective manner tennis companies would line up to work with you. I played in college and have been a teaching pro since 2000. When I first got into teaching Wilson would send free product with a phone call and Head as well. Now companies are very reluctant to hand out free product.
I've heard that major sponsorships are basically only available for the top 30ish players (heard from various tennis podcasts). Brands are very stingy when it comes to sponsoring tennis players financially. You are plenty likeable Karue! 🙂
I think brands are hoping free stuff is good enough ROI but they underestimate the ROI they’d get from a $30,000 brand deal with you - although Toroline seems to recognize it and I’m sure it’s working for them
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months
Karue. I didn't get to watch all of the video, so maybe you mention these points, but I quickly looked and the prize money of the guys ranked the three spots above you was, on average $93k, earned from an average of 29 events. Your $38k across 22 tournaments = $1,700 per event, while theirs is approaching twice that amount at $3,200. Maybe this is due to your ratio of points earned (40%) in the lower prize money ITF events, but I think it shows that with a full year of Challengers+ in 2025 you definitely can have a considerably better financial year. Also, if you are set up correctly, I would think all of those expenses should be deductible and therefore you should only pay taxes on any net earnings (although I could be wrong). Either way, keep it up. Caught quite a few of your matches on the Challenger streaming. Tremendous progress this year. Now if we can also get Marcos to crack top 30 next year we will be in business.
I feel like it would really help the players if the ATP had a $50K salary for anyone in the top 300-200. $500K/year seems feasible, although I don't know all of their business details.
What are your thoughts on players that basically only play futures/challengers in their country? Looking at guys like Yan Bai, Tai Sach, etc. is this a sustainable way to not make money since there’s limited costs?
If it makes it cheaper for them, go at it. Would love to be in a similar situation. Italy has done a tremendous job with that, providing opportunities. Now look how many Italians we got
@@nelsonagholor1097 don’t know about Tai Sach, but for Yan Bai, I can tell you sports in China are way different. The department of sports go looks for little kids who deems to have potential and trains them for free, and they get paid by the government so they don’t need to work another job. Things don’t work the same in China.
Curious about frequency of stringing in a tournament. Would having additional rackets help lower the cost? If they ever had a tournament in my town I would be happy to string for material cost only.
How does it work with rental cars? In a place like Drummondville that's over an hour from Montreal, does the hotel have a shuttle bus or something to take you to the hotel/tournament? How do you get around the city otherwise during off days?
I think the tournament has drivers to and from the players' hotel(s). Players request a driver at a certain time. A car company or a dealership, such as Mercedes, supplies the cars. The tournament in my city does this, and local people volunteer for the driver position, as well as many other positions at the tournament.
It sucks that they take out taxes automatically. I would assume as a tennis pro you run it like a startup business and your losses cary foreword to offset all the millions you make in the future. Hope you get sponsors soon
It's a shame! Tennis is basically choking itself. There should be more support for aspiring pros (profit sharing etc). With this model, I'm sure there are thousands of talented players who can't afford to make a go at it. Can you write off all those expenses?
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months and barely made it out the first round of tournaments
Can someone explain me why tax is automatically deducted from the prize money? Usually you pay tax from difference between your income and business expenses. Here tax is taken from the income without taking in the account the expenses, why is that?
THIS is the video that people need to see. Thank you for documenting this & for your transparency! Also, shameless plug for UTR Pro Tennis Tour events. We offer guaranteed prize money & number of matches. We are offering more paths for players to make a living to play tennis professionally!
If they (atp) want to make money on tickets the sport should be highly competitive. It can't be competitive if they don't support the bottom it's a basics. Just grab some thousand from top 10 and share it. Why are they so stupid?
Terence Atmane finished the year at 158. He never got into the Top 100 during the year, his best was 120, his average was 140. He made U$411k for the season. SOme good runs on M1000s and Grand Slams. You finished the year at 259. U$38k prize money. The difference from these 100 spots is absurd! However, it just shows you are close. Just need to establish yourself in that 170 range, things will get waaaay easier.
Yep, a couple things: he finished the year at that point, but it was not his ranking for the entire year. Top 100-200 is a much different animal than 200+.
@@pus915 He doesn't but 50+ wins with only around 20 losses is an incredible win % on the tour. Just goes to show you how sad ITF futures are, no accommodations, everything out of pocket with really low prize pool is just unbelievable.
That win % is bolstered by the futures tour, though. He's still above .500 for sure at challengers, but it's a lot harder to win 2 matches in a row. If you make 2nd round at most challengers, it's $1350 usd, which isn't tons to get by on for a week.
Rubbish. If a guy wins every single match then he wouldn't be playing in futures or challangers for long. In sports as in life, winning takes care of anything.
Brands not sponsoring you is honestly stupid on their part. You have a channel, thousands of supporters and easy promotion and advertising. Hoping for your decent sponsorship next year.
could probably double your income reselling those lacoste clothes after you wear them one or two times. Have you looked up how much those tshirts are? they're like 100 bucks each. So i went on amazon and got the "low cost" balloon alligator shirt. Hilarious, and 10% of the lacoste cost. lots of compliments and pairs with my game the way the real shirt pairs with yours. cheers, and thanks for the content. ps. nice casi-oak.
You won't have to actually PAY all that withholding tax, however, so shouldn't count all of that, except some of it just offsets other income. Also, of course your channel has to be included, which you don't disclose, so of course you make decent money there. Kinda poor showing IMHO that you don't actually cover the channel income. You brought up money, and then don't go into anything but the downsides.
It's very specifically mentioned that I'm in a unique position. My example is not the reality of all tennis players therefore using it to say "oh look at me I'm making money" wouldn't be the reality. The reality is no players have the revenue I make from TH-cam so it's stupid to add that income to the video. Nor is it your business for that matter. The point of the video is to show the financial situation of most players by using my case (without the TH-cam) as an example..not that hard to understand
well, most players can't even get free gear from tennis brands, so yeah I'd consider you sponsored by Yonex and Lacoste if they do give you free gear -- IF it's the whole gear and not some discounts or whatever. Being sponsored in pro sports is not always about getting paid by a brand to wear/use their stuff. Especially in tennis, getting free gear actually means you're already very well regarded by that brand. I don't know many guys on the top 300 or 400 that have free Yonex stuff (for instance, Jaime Faria our n.2 Portuguese player is top 130 and BUYS his rackets and bags still, from Yonex), or Lacoste gear. In that matter, if indeed you don't pay them anything for gear, you gotta consider yourself luckier than most.
Reminds me of the old Mastercard commercials
- $3,500 stringing fees
- $35,000 travel expenses
- earning ATP #259 in my first year turning 30 - PRICELESS 👏
Hahahah yes
Maybe the Challenger tournaments could set up a local schedule for premium lessons with players in a tournament?? Just one hour a day for a $200-300 lesson with a pro. The pro just feeds balls to their student, little physical effort, but can make some extra money while engaging tennis fans.
Great idea. Some do pro ams
People would totally pay for that locally
Yonex and Lacoste should sponsor you. Karue sells.
Karue $ell
I really hope one of those big name companies endorses you! I think it’s very inspiring to make a come back at your age and move up your ranking by hundreds! Keep it up man, we’re all rooting for you!
As an accountant, this is fascinating. Great content as always Karue. Team mustache FTW.
Yeah I wonder what kind of creative tax options he would have to get some of that tax back
As someone who isn't an accountant, do you have an accountant doing your taxes for each country you visit? Because you should be getting most of that pre-paid tax back from most countries.
@buddhikaw it depends on whether an accountant's fees would be more than the tax that could be recovered
The “BuT yOU ChOse TO pLAy prO TenNIS” is incoming. 😂 spare us from your stupidity! Thank you everyone else for the support this year, LITERALLY couldn’t haven’t done it without the channel!
Will be pulling for you in 2025. Hoping you can get your feet firmly planted on the Big tour. Rock on!
Bottom line is: Playing professional tennis is an expensive hobby
I think the real Bottom line is that playing pro tennis is almost solely for the wealthy.
Yep, except top 100. 100-200 probably do OK as well. Over 200.... don't do it for the money; do it if you have the chops to hit the top rankings, or in this case likely, if you are enjoying an expensive hobby.
Props to you for moving forward towards your goal. Wishing you all the best and hoping you move towards the top 100 soon
really really good content. thank you so much for posting this, very valuable information for players and coaches.
There's no price to being able to do what you love. You made the right decision, for sure!
Thank you
Tennis is the hardest sport to make money at as a pro. You could warm baseball benches and play a few games per season and make $500k guaranteed salary.
Minor league baseball players barely get paid tho
@@bluephoenix8630 minor leaguers’ salaries usually suck, but at least a bunch of them get signing bonuses to make things easier at first
Its only hard if you are not good enough.
@@JAM-fm8lt what insight!
If you break through to the ATP tour you'll get an endorsement deal. Good luck for 2025!
You deserve a big endorsement for what you have done for the sport. You are out here following your dream and making the most incredible tennis content at the same time, whether it is day-in-the-life type stuff, video lessons, product reviews, etc.. Most people who love tennis, consume tennis media, and play USTA events at any level know who you are and are big fans because despite being an elite athlete you are just a normal guy who is very relatable. Best of luck in 2025 and beyond! Hopefully many years from now we will get to listen to you as a pundit for big events!
What that is crazy never knew! Thanks for the video really enjoy it
I feel like Yonex and Lacoste should be paying you. No doubt that countless people have bought a Percept because of you. But then, why would they pay you if you're already giving them free airtime? Sadly, you'd have to paint your racket and wear a different brand of clothes to get them to the negotiating table.
You’re extremely likable!! Love the channel, and hoping you get a nice contract with a tennis sponsor!!
Great video, Karue. Very informative and educational. The prize money and overall marketing at the Challenger level needs to improve. The average fan doesn’t realize how strong the level and talent is in the 100-300 ranking range.
My friend beat top 10 players in the 1970s. He also gave Stan Smith, when #1, a run for his money. He played Jimmy Connors in one of his first pro tourneys, but lost 6-4, 6-4. My friend couldn't afford to go on the tour back then and became a teaching pro.
Very interesting video. A lot of people don't fully understands that becoming a tennis pro is one of the hardest things to achieve. Close to 98% of the tennis players will not make it to the top 50 in their lifetime playing tennis. As a psychologist I was interested in a certain aspect of the tennis and I started chatting with some lower level players. Well my eyes were opened wide to just how hard it is to actually be able to afford to play pro tennis. Not one of the players had any real experience with a performance psychologist which surprised me. Of course the US college players did have a psychologist but most didn't once they went on tour on their own. I have to take my hate off to people who go after their dream and do whatever it takes just to play a tennis match I actually think that it's more impressive than the big players success. So fair play to you Karue and you are 100% correct about TH-cam that without it a lot of players would not be able to play pro tennis.
Strted using LMNTs because of your channel!
Awesome content
Reminds me of a player who was a top 200 both singles and doubles,in his prime. He was in a few GSs main draw and qualifiers but didn’t make far. At that time he was paid a basic salary by his tennis association. His earnings were his to keep but his spending came out from his salary and sponsorship. He is now a full time coach and he promotes racquets and products for his sponsors.
I started to use Gruns because of your channel. Thanks for the insights on tennis pro-life. ATP has to do a better job spreading out the riches to encourage more aspiring and talented players.
This is why match fixing at the lower levels was/is a big problem
no shame in working at mcdonalds
The comment/tweet has nothing to do with shame; it has to do with the fact that you get a McDonalds job out of highschool with no prior experience. You get a job playing pro tennis after a life-long struggle.
So true Winston, I love McDonald's (may be too much 😅) and am also a big fan of Karue. If Karue makes it to top 10 (no pressure, but I think he can even go higher), I hope he does a cameo there😊
Zero shame!
I know/hope you’re being sarcastic aha but seriously crazy to think doing a job like
McDonald’s that most people can do and being top 300 pro tennis player (very few can do) is equivalent 😅
Meal of champions!
I would think given your honesty and ability to breakdown your own game in an objective manner tennis companies would line up to work with you.
I played in college and have been a teaching pro since 2000. When I first got into teaching Wilson would send free product with a phone call and Head as well. Now companies are very reluctant to hand out free product.
And living in California has to be tough
So glad you broke Top 300 this year!. Let's go Top 200+ in 2025!!!
I've heard that major sponsorships are basically only available for the top 30ish players (heard from various tennis podcasts). Brands are very stingy when it comes to sponsoring tennis players financially. You are plenty likeable Karue! 🙂
You're a warrior. Impressive brother.
Hello Karue! How many times have you been tested for doping on this adventure?
Yes A few times
I think brands are hoping free stuff is good enough ROI but they underestimate the ROI they’d get from a $30,000 brand deal with you - although Toroline seems to recognize it and I’m sure it’s working for them
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months
🤷♂️
Parents (?)
Karue - what's the watch you're wearing? Looks very fresh, but can't tell from the video
Gshock
Hey Karue, do you think you will play French open?
Yes if his ranking allows .
Karue. I didn't get to watch all of the video, so maybe you mention these points, but I quickly looked and the prize money of the guys ranked the three spots above you was, on average $93k, earned from an average of 29 events. Your $38k across 22 tournaments = $1,700 per event, while theirs is approaching twice that amount at $3,200. Maybe this is due to your ratio of points earned (40%) in the lower prize money ITF events, but I think it shows that with a full year of Challengers+ in 2025 you definitely can have a considerably better financial year. Also, if you are set up correctly, I would think all of those expenses should be deductible and therefore you should only pay taxes on any net earnings (although I could be wrong). Either way, keep it up. Caught quite a few of your matches on the Challenger streaming. Tremendous progress this year. Now if we can also get Marcos to crack top 30 next year we will be in business.
I feel like it would really help the players if the ATP had a $50K salary for anyone in the top 300-200. $500K/year seems feasible, although I don't know all of their business details.
Mr. Sell,
do you do some coaching during spare time?
No time recently
Bro thanks for your info . I love playing tennis a lot but I don't think Tennis is good career choice in general .
What are your thoughts on players that basically only play futures/challengers in their country? Looking at guys like Yan Bai, Tai Sach, etc. is this a sustainable way to not make money since there’s limited costs?
If it makes it cheaper for them, go at it. Would love to be in a similar situation. Italy has done a tremendous job with that, providing opportunities. Now look how many Italians we got
@@nelsonagholor1097 don’t know about Tai Sach, but for Yan Bai, I can tell you sports in China are way different. The department of sports go looks for little kids who deems to have potential and trains them for free, and they get paid by the government so they don’t need to work another job. Things don’t work the same in China.
Curious about frequency of stringing in a tournament. Would having additional rackets help lower the cost? If they ever had a tournament in my town I would be happy to string for material cost only.
Those stringing fees are crazy considering you get free string right? That’s just labor? GL
The real question is does the average 250-300 have tennis company endorsements?
How does it work with rental cars? In a place like Drummondville that's over an hour from Montreal, does the hotel have a shuttle bus or something to take you to the hotel/tournament? How do you get around the city otherwise during off days?
I think the tournament has drivers to and from the players' hotel(s). Players request a driver at a certain time. A car company or a dealership, such as Mercedes, supplies the cars. The tournament in my city does this, and local people volunteer for the driver position, as well as many other positions at the tournament.
@loveandabcs yeah my question is more everything else. Like if the tournament isn't close to an airport
It sucks that they take out taxes automatically. I would assume as a tennis pro you run it like a startup business and your losses cary foreword to offset all the millions you make in the future. Hope you get sponsors soon
W2 tax structure despite being 1099 in terms of liability lol. What a joke
Its not brand don't want to work with you(give you money). Its that brand don’t work with 30 years old ranked outside top 100.
Desiste não man
Nope
isn't that crazy that Egypt and Tunisia have more tournaments then US, or other parts of Europe!
It's a shame! Tennis is basically choking itself. There should be more support for aspiring pros (profit sharing etc). With this model, I'm sure there are thousands of talented players who can't afford to make a go at it.
Can you write off all those expenses?
Absolutely!
Talented players do not spend more than 1 years playing at futures.
Hey Karue I’m wondering how guys like Preston brown travel across the world every other week, don’t win at all, and continue to play. How do they afford this? Preston brown for example played on four continents in 2 months and barely made it out the first round of tournaments
hey karue were you able to capitalize on some of the new prize money incentives being offered by the atp in 2025 and beyond
do they treat u as a new or returning player bc if new u could get the bag for entering t300 for the first time
Cada vez mais a presença em Grand Slam é necessária para que o jogador se mantenha no tour.
Whenever i see this guy,my first thought is Marton Fuchovic.
Dont know why
if you break top 150, New balance will give you a contract
Can someone explain me why tax is automatically deducted from the prize money? Usually you pay tax from difference between your income and business expenses. Here tax is taken from the income without taking in the account the expenses, why is that?
Does anyone know how do these club leagues work in europe?
conclusion if you want to be a professional tennis player, you must have a sugar daddy.
Why can't you write all that off Karue?
It’s so unfair, because I ended up playing Yonex thanks to Karue
Nice
THIS is the video that people need to see. Thank you for documenting this & for your transparency!
Also, shameless plug for UTR Pro Tennis Tour events. We offer guaranteed prize money & number of matches. We are offering more paths for players to make a living to play tennis professionally!
If they (atp) want to make money on tickets the sport should be highly competitive. It can't be competitive if they don't support the bottom it's a basics. Just grab some thousand from top 10 and share it. Why are they so stupid?
i hope to be a top pro like you one day karue. thanks for sharing. try and guess my UTR based of the vids in my channel?
❤
Abre uma academia no Brasil e eu te ajudo a tocar. Que tal? Abraços!
Terence Atmane finished the year at 158. He never got into the Top 100 during the year, his best was 120, his average was 140. He made U$411k for the season. SOme good runs on M1000s and Grand Slams.
You finished the year at 259. U$38k prize money. The difference from these 100 spots is absurd!
However, it just shows you are close. Just need to establish yourself in that 170 range, things will get waaaay easier.
Yep, a couple things: he finished the year at that point, but it was not his ranking for the entire year. Top 100-200 is a much different animal than 200+.
Surely you can file as a professional and expense your costs against your gross income? At tax time you should get that $11k back.
the fact that the guy wins every single match he plays and still end up loosing money is crazy 🤣🤣🤣
He doesn't win every match he plays 🤔
It’s just the futures that suck. He said he was profiting at the challengers
@@pus915 He doesn't but 50+ wins with only around 20 losses is an incredible win % on the tour.
Just goes to show you how sad ITF futures are, no accommodations, everything out of pocket with really low prize pool is just unbelievable.
That win % is bolstered by the futures tour, though. He's still above .500 for sure at challengers, but it's a lot harder to win 2 matches in a row. If you make 2nd round at most challengers, it's $1350 usd, which isn't tons to get by on for a week.
Rubbish.
If a guy wins every single match then he wouldn't be playing in futures or challangers for long.
In sports as in life, winning takes care of anything.
90% of pro players are losing money.
So whats the plan for 2025? Skip futures entirely?
if I maintain my ranking where it is at yes I’ll likely only play challengers
Brands not sponsoring you is honestly stupid on their part. You have a channel, thousands of supporters and easy promotion and advertising.
Hoping for your decent sponsorship next year.
Brand will not work with any 30 years old outside top 100 regardless of how popular your youtube channel is.
could probably double your income reselling those lacoste clothes after you wear them one or two times. Have you looked up how much those tshirts are? they're like 100 bucks each. So i went on amazon and got the "low cost" balloon alligator shirt. Hilarious, and 10% of the lacoste cost. lots of compliments and pairs with my game the way the real shirt pairs with yours. cheers, and thanks for the content. ps. nice casi-oak.
Hvac/plumbin/electricians, and landscapers do much better than most tennis challengers... build a small business in the USA.
So dude work flip burgers then…..its not about the money. Still a big fan of KS.
You won't have to actually PAY all that withholding tax, however, so shouldn't count all of that, except some of it just offsets other income. Also, of course your channel has to be included, which you don't disclose, so of course you make decent money there. Kinda poor showing IMHO that you don't actually cover the channel income. You brought up money, and then don't go into anything but the downsides.
It's very specifically mentioned that I'm in a unique position. My example is not the reality of all tennis players therefore using it to say "oh look at me I'm making money" wouldn't be the reality. The reality is no players have the revenue I make from TH-cam so it's stupid to add that income to the video. Nor is it your business for that matter. The point of the video is to show the financial situation of most players by using my case (without the TH-cam) as an example..not that hard to understand
switch to aero vs Karue you will win more, more raw power
well, most players can't even get free gear from tennis brands, so yeah I'd consider you sponsored by Yonex and Lacoste if they do give you free gear -- IF it's the whole gear and not some discounts or whatever. Being sponsored in pro sports is not always about getting paid by a brand to wear/use their stuff. Especially in tennis, getting free gear actually means you're already very well regarded by that brand. I don't know many guys on the top 300 or 400 that have free Yonex stuff (for instance, Jaime Faria our n.2 Portuguese player is top 130 and BUYS his rackets and bags still, from Yonex), or Lacoste gear. In that matter, if indeed you don't pay them anything for gear, you gotta consider yourself luckier than most.