Maxime Janvier FRA, 10/18/1996
Maxime Janvier, number 225 in the world, has made surprising statements about tennis, the sport he plays professionally. Although he has just passed the Wimbledon qualifiers, the Frenchman expressed a profound disillusionment with the sport in an interview with L’Equipe.
“Tennis really disgusts me, it disappoints me,” Janvier said. “When I was young I didn’t think like that. I would never have taken up tennis if I had known that.” The player criticized the lack of stability in professional tennis and the unequal treatment between players of different rankings.
Janvier highlighted the financial difficulties many tennis players face, revealing he had to take out a €50,000 loan to continue playing. “I was completely ruined. Too much stress. I worked 24 hours a day and ended the month with losses of 2,000 or 3,000 euros.”
Although qualifying for Wimbledon guarantees him a substantial prize, Janvier points out that much of this earnings is eroded by taxes and expenses. “It is completely false to say that I earn 70,000 euros. After taxes and expenses, there is very little left.”
The Frenchman also criticized the unequal treatment on the circuit: “If you lose in any round of Wimbledon, the next day you cannot access the site. They kick you out. They don’t respect us, they don’t treat us well.”
Despite everything, Janvier continues to play mainly for the prize money. “If it weren’t for the financial aspect, I would have stopped long ago,” he admitted. However, he set himself a limit: “If in three years I’m still in the top 400, I’ll give myself three months to move up in the rankings, otherwise I’ll stop.”
Francis Paul Villarico
