Berankis spoke about the money of the tennis players: “less deep” in Lithuania

Admittedly, the best tournament could only take place at the end of the summer at best. However, this is not yet guaranteed. It is the unknown that R. Berankis is most concerned about, but he is still patient: he maintains a good sporting form and awaits knowledge about the resumption of tournaments.

“I will be rested, I will be fully recovered. I look at this period positively because there has never been a situation in my life where I spent 6 weeks at home. Maybe when I was between 11 and 12 years old,” the athlete smiled.

Having played the best season of his career last year, Berankis applied for his second career at this year’s Olympics. And although they moved to 2021, Lithuanian motivation did not reduce it in any way.

“I will not lie, it would be good to have a better performance than in Rio de Janeiro,” admitted Vilnius, who currently occupies the 72nd place in the world ranking, who lost 0: 6, 0: 6 against the Australian John Millman in the first round of the Games in 2016.

By contacting LTOK.lt, R. Berankis discussed his training conditions during quarantine and financial losses due to tournament cancellation, as well as in this extraordinary situation, he was able to discover personal benefits and share his memories of his first Olympics. in Brazil.

– Quarantine was introduced in Lithuania 6 weeks ago. Where did you spend this whole period?

– I quarantine at home. Civilly, we are honestly quarantined at home. We returned two days before the official quarantine in Lithuania.

– And where in the world were you when the news came about the spread of the virus and the closing of the borders? Did you have difficulties returning to Lithuania?

– Exactly one week before the announcement of the quarantine, the ATP Masters Indian Wales tournament was canceled in Lithuania. Here, near San Francisco, Los Angeles, all the players were waiting for news for the next week, other tournaments that would take place in Miami, Mexico. We waited three days at the venue, but when they announced that they would cancel the next tournaments for next month, we immediately bought tickets and flew home. Donald Trump had banned all flights from Europe to America at the time, but nothing prevented him from flying outside of the United States.

– How is your schedule at the moment? How did quarantine change workouts?

– During the first two weeks I practiced sports easily, in other words, just for me. I rested because I had to isolate myself, I couldn’t go out. I will definitely not lie, and I myself am very afraid of that virus, I am afraid of becoming infected with it, because it says that it affects the lungs a lot, and I am not in an ideal situation with them, so I clung to it.

I started playing sports from the third week. Every two days, a coach comes to Vilnius from Šiauliai and together we play sports in nature: running, strength training. But most lack physical therapy, but with these professionals it is a little more complicated. With the coach I can keep my distance, we cover my faces … But I turn as much as I can.

And how is my day? On the way around 8:30 a.m., I do the exercise, from 11 a.m. at 1 p.m. There is a physical training and some days in the afternoon I still go to the basement to lift weights. I support the form because it is not clear when the official start will take place. There are rumors right now of, God forbid, playing the US Open in late August. Then we are waiting.

But tennis is a very global sport, so it will be difficult, because all countries must have quarantined, all flights must be open to all players, and we will wait for that moment now.

– Since Monday, quarantine conditions have already relaxed in Lithuania, and highly skilled Olympic athletes can return to sports bases in compliance with safety: we have seen athletes, pentathletes, swimmers play sports again. And you, are you going back to the tennis courts?

– Next week still, I don’t think I will play tennis because there is no such goal. My preparation now is that I will start playing tennis only 8-10 weeks before the official round opens. And until then, there is no point in forcing tennis, because I will be in tennis form in those 8-10 weeks. So now the most important thing for me is to stay physically fit to be as good as possible when I return to tennis mode and to be able to stand it and exercise.

– Many athletes emphasize that this period is an additional opportunity to heal injuries. Although the season for you was just before quarantine, but knowing the injury history, did you need that period right now?

– A relatively favorable period, because I have been fighting viruses a lot since the beginning of the year. The first four weeks of this year were very bad: from mid-January to the end of the first week of February I had problems with the temperature. I have some nonsense at the Doha tournament. After that, I struggled for 5-6 weeks and only now am I beginning to recover from that virus. I can’t even tell what the exact virus is, because we haven’t discovered it ourselves. But health is improving.

And as for recovery from injuries after all surgeries, as I say, recovery things are mostly done with physical therapists, but now there is no opportunity to work with them. I think both have balanced, and they themselves don’t want to force something that is not a great need. But yes, the body is more or less well prepared, I had no injuries at all last year, except for an accidental slip when the calf muscle broke. But it happened before Wimbledon, in late June of last year, so now I don’t have a problem with that muscle anymore.

I’m ready for heavy loads, now all that’s left is to stay physically fit and lick little details. But since there are not many, my plan is quite simple.

– Normally you travel from one part of the world to another, you train regularly, you participate in competitions. And now, suddenly, everything stopped for a long time. How does this slower rhythm react psychologically?

– I will say frankly – I started sleeping much calmer, I really get up very rarely at night. Due to the changes in the continents, it was very uncomfortable to wake up 3-4 times at night, and now all this has stabilized and settled down. And with the nerves, everything is normal, because there is a lot of tension in tennis: you are under a magnifying glass, the points are burning, the qualifications are falling. You really get tired. But if I had to start now, it would be the same for me: I would have recovered 100%, all I had to do was lift my tennis uniform and everything would be fine.

– The world’s tennis players were divided into different parts of the barricades, when Novak Djokovic proposed allocating certain amounts to the TOP-100 tennis players in a common fund, of which 10 thousand. it would be distributed to athletes in the world ranking of 250-700. Has it become a reality and what is your opinion on this proposal?

– If I’m not mistaken, the basket that the players were asked to shoot has already been collected. It was not an obligation. But yeah, I fully support Novak’s offer to support weaker players because it’s not really easy for them right now. People find tennis to be a sport where you play and there are millions. But it really isn’t. A player with a rating of 150 is already struggling financially, then has to cut budgets, give up the services of a coach or physical therapist.

I won’t hide, I can’t even take a coach and physical therapist with me everywhere. Sometimes I have to travel alone because it is not financially worth traveling and spending 10-15 thousand euros on air tickets, food, hotels and salaries just to play a tournament.

But now that Grand Slam tournaments have increased their support basket to support weaker players, the full amount has already been raised, so player contributions will no longer be required. As far as I know, even if I want to transfer money, that support fund has not been established, only the total amount needed has been raised from the tournament organizers and will be distributed to the players.

And frankly, this is where the information leaked. There is a general correspondence between TOP-100 players and Novak shared this idea and someone leaked this information. If I’m not mistaken, someone in America did it. But that was how it all turned out: the offer remained an offer: 10 days later, we learned that ATP had agreed with the Grand Slam tournaments that they would contribute 500 to the total basket instead of $ 250,000. Yes, they have that 1 million. a basket of dollars that was offered to be collected from players and compensated.

– Most of their income comes from tournaments. How did the cancellation of the competition affect you personally? Or maybe we had to talk to Laurynas Grigelis, Lukas Mugevičius and other Lithuanians, how do they manage to manage during this period?

– As I earn a little more, I have more left at the end of the year, but his situation … I did not contact Luke on this subject, because he has been traumatized for more than two years, he had several surgeries. (sighs deeply) I will say frankly that I don’t want to touch this, because I know how it is, they have no money. They live off what the federation gives from one or the other sponsor. But I know, a profound drawback … For Laurynas, that I know of, it has an Italian sponsor, but it’s certainly not as much money as everyone imagines. I guess if you keep exercising, it will make ends meet. Without it, there really isn’t anything wow. It is definitely not easy.

– I have no doubt that before each season you plan a budget. But when there are no tournaments and there won’t be for a while yet, how much does it affect your season plan?

– It has a strong impact, because all training plans must be based on your personal money: who to play with, where to play, how much to play, how many hours to hire a coach or physical therapist. Even now, it is difficult to exercise and prepare because you don’t know when and what interval awaits you. Exercising hard just for exercising hard is not a goal, as it is an expensive and inappropriate time.

If I play all year, my annual budget is about 200 thousand euros. Here’s how it all explains: If results fall, you must cut costs. Generally speaking, you have to design plans, not the way you would like.

– The economic situation is not easy either. Do the sponsors remain loyal in this situation?

– I personally have no sponsors. There were certain conditions: if you wanted sponsorship money, you had to play certain tournaments. It was framed. If I can, I play, if I can’t, I don’t play. The sponsors didn’t like it, so we ended the collaboration very well.

A serious Lithuanian businessman has said that when a sponsor comes to support a tennis player, he imagines that after investing a certain amount, he will then withdraw it with a lot. But this is the mindset of many Lithuanian supporters. According to the earnings that are published in the press: I am a rich person, I have the sea on my knees. So why support it then? But not many want to delve into how things really are.

We can compare ourselves with other big and popular sports. Both in the world and in Lithuania. Let’s say basketball, soccer clubs: all the expenses of an athlete are covered by the club, and their earnings are written before or after taxes. But I have a completely different basket: equipment maintenance, wages. Yes, I get an LTOK scholarship, it helps, but it only represents 5% of my total annual budget.

And how tennis fans behave in the current situation, I cannot answer. I honestly don’t know.

– You named last season the best of your career, and you started this so close to the trophy of the first ATP tournament. Is there no fear that all this work will move away from this pause?

– (sighs) I really think it will even help. I will be rested, I will be fully recovered. I look at this period positively because there has never been a situation in my life where I spent 6 weeks at home. Maybe when I was between 11 and 12 years old (smiling). Now is a period of relaxation, but I am already beginning to realize that it is time to take sports seriously, because I will go out that way completely. What does this mean? That I won’t be able to prepare on time. And to guess, I’ll work and see what happens next.

– Their main focus this year was the Tokyo Olympics, but I postponed them for a year. How did you react to the news?

– I will frankly say that I was not surprised by this decision. I had not believed that the Olympics would be held this year since February, so it is very difficult to say about my reaction to the postponement, because that was what I expected. The entire world has come to a standstill, and the Olympic Games are the world’s largest sporting event every four years. I really didn’t think they were going to happen, although I really wanted to participate, I’m not lying, I wanted to. I really enjoyed the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, no matter how badly it ended for me. Very interesting atmosphere, many bases, much to learn from other athletes, and the experience of representing Lithuania is a very nice prize. All athletes from a young age know what the Olympic Games are and what it means to reach that level. An infinitely great event.

– But even if the games don’t take place in 2020, but in 2021, are they still your goal?

– Is known. But now it’s not clear when we’ll start at all, and Tokyo is now so far away that there’s not even a target to turn our heads. Now it is necessary to observe the current situation, when it is time to start working. Because realistically, when you’re unemployed, a constant handicap, you start thinking about what needs to be done to prevent it from happening. This is one of the pistons in this situation. Now I am looking forward to starting in personal tournaments.

– You had to go to the games on June 8. Be among the 68 most capable tennis players in the world in the ATP ranking. Will the relocation of the Olympic Games affect your selection?

– It does not matter in what year and where the Olympic Games are held, the last ranking of tennis players according to which they enter or do not enter the tournament is recorded 6 weeks before them. Therefore, changing the date has no effect on our selection system.

– The objective of each athlete is to reach the Olympic Games. You have already achieved this goal, and what do you establish for your second games?

– Are you saying I want to win a game? (Laughter) I’m not lying, it would be good to look better than in Rio de Janeiro. But the goals are always set high: If they weren’t there, you couldn’t win, perform well, play well in any other tournament. Goals, dreams push forward. My goals are infinitely high, but not always successful. And when you’re lucky enough to catch them, you pat yourself and tell yourself that you’ve probably done everything right to prepare for that tournament.