Hungary plays their first round in Group D on Saturday, facing two very strong teams, Australia and Croatia, for advancement. If Hungary wants to get ahead, they will probably have to beat either the USA or Italy in the next round.Continue reading
Not quite Floyd “Money” Mayweather kind of sums, but top Hungarian tennis players are making a comfortable living out of their skills and hard work. According to VG.hu, only in recent months they have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Three of the top 150 Hungarian tennis players have made more money this season than their career totals so far. Panna Udvardy is having a successful year, after reaching the singles and doubles finals in Iași (Jászvásár), Romania last week, tripling her prize money: the 23-year-old earned $382,000 in 2022, compared to $189,000 in previous years.
The women’s national team member now earns more as a top 100 tennis player, so she makes a living from the sport, but that does not mean she can fly first class and book suites in expensive hotels, she tells.
“Even if I manage to keep this ranking, for several years to come, about half of my prize money will go to pay my sponsors – said Panna Udvardy, who estimates that 25-30 percent of her prize money went to taxes, while another 20-30 percent had to be spent on paying back sponsors and coaching bonuses.
Anna Bondár has also had a great first seven months, receiving $441,000 from tournament sponsors over the period, and could increase that amount further at the main draw of the Toronto tournament – a total of $754,000 for the 25-year-old tennis player. Dalma Gálfi is also close to doubling her career prize money so far this year.
The highest prize money is still up for grabs at the four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open in Melbourne, the Roland Garros in Paris, Wimbledon in London and the US Open in New York. Márton Fucsovics, who has earned $5.3 million in his career, is not having a great season, but thanks in part to a solid top-four finish at the biggest tournaments, he is on course for $539,000 in 2022 – despite not winning a match at the Australian Open or Wimbledon and a second-round exit at Roland Garros.
The domestic leader is Tímea Babos, who is celebrating Grand Slam trophies and world titles in doubles, who is at $8.3 million, although the 29-year-old revealed in an interview with VG that after taxes and expenses, she has less than 40 percent of that amount left in her pocket.
Featured Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt