“Players make money from doing well in tournaments they play in – if you get to your seeded position or worse you actually lose money, after paying for hotel and flights etc. For example, if I had played El Gouna in April this year, if I had flown out to have had one day’s practise (which is the minimum players have to practise for a platinum event) and got to my seeded position of 17/32 I would have actually made -£11.60. And no, the minus symbol isn’t a typo haha. So you have to constantly do better in the big events. Now that draws and seedings are done like the mens where you can get two 17/32 seeds playing in the second round, this means more lower ranked players are going to be given the chance to get through the rounds of some of these bigger events so more ranking points and money is up for grabs. Because the thing is, if you don’t manage to get to quarter finals of these tournaments, you don’t get much exposure. No exposure means no sponsorship opportunities, which is another way players can earn money and with the top players getting more sponsorship they get even more money, even though they’re doing well in these bigger events and so the gap in which players are making decent money is even greater..
Leagues and exhibitions are another way players can make money. But again, if you’re higher ranked, you get people calling you up, whereas if you’re lower ranked, you have to call people. It’s like you’re having to beg for money, which I don’t like to do. I’m also not in an ‘on tour clique’ and so I don’t have any on tour ‘friends’ recommending me. Quite often you’ll see the same people getting all the league teams and clinics etc, and that’s not a coincidence.
COVID has obviously affected everyone’s stream of income, but to what extent is different for everyone, which I can’t comment on.”