Before a tennis player ever hits a serve at a Grand Slam, they have to gamble on their own schedule. Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick summed up the dilemma: book a hotel for two full weeks and risk losing hundreds on unused nights, or book day-by-day and risk having nowhere to sleep if you keep winning. For lower-ranked players, that single booking choice can wipe out an entire week’s earnings.

“Got to kind of have to be a realist,” he said during a discussion on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast. 

The problem also raises a bigger question about the sport. Players already have to pay for flights, coaches, physiotherapy, food, and training. So how much more pressure does uncertain hotel accommodation add to their careers?

“We all believe you can do it. And we’re going to book the hotel for like four days,” he continued. 

Players cannot always make hotel bookings based on these hopes. Roddick mentioned Kwalinska as an example. 

“You’re not making a monster living on tour. I’ve never made it past the second round of a Grand Slam. I’m going to book it for two weeks. No,” Roddick said. 

There are situations where the cost of unused hotel rooms could take away a big part of their already limited budget. Grand Slam tournaments often offer special hotel rates for players. These hotels provide rooms at agreed prices. However, they can fill up quickly.

Players also have to think about their travelling teams. Their coaches, physiotherapists, and other support staff may need separate rooms. This adds even more money to the total cost of the trip.

Players may also receive a daily allowance or other support from tournaments. But this does not always solve the problem of hotel cancellation charges. For example, some hotels require guests to give two days’ notice before cancelling a booking. If a player loses early, they may still have to pay for rooms they no longer need.

The hotel booking problem becomes easier to understand when we look at how the professional tennis calendar works.

Unlike team sports, where athletes usually receive salaries and their clubs handle much of their travel, most professional tennis players work more like independent businesses. They earn money through tournament performances and must manage their own expenses. Their next travel destination can also depend on how long they stay in their current tournament.

Japanese tennis player Taro Daniel explained this problem in a June 2025 interview with the Financial Times. 

“My credit card statement, it’s at least $20,000 a month on just operational expenses of hotel, food, flights and not including the salaries I pay to my team,” Daniel told the publication.

There are some tournaments that pay for a player’s hotel room but do not always cover the hotel costs of their coaches. So, a player travelling with a support team can face a much bigger bill than the basic hotel cost.

For top players, an unexpected hotel expense may not create a serious problem. But for players outside the top 100, it can become a major financial burden.

Top players earn millions through prize money and sponsorship deals. However, lower-ranked players often spend most of their earnings just to keep their careers going.

Daniel estimated that his monthly running costs reached around $20,000. Former World No. 16 Nikoloz Basilashvili faced an even bigger problem while returning from an elbow injury.

According to The Guardian’s August 2025 report, Basilashvili earned $63,183 in prize money in 2024. However, after paying for flights and coaching, he reported a loss of around $120,000.

Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal also shared a clear example of these financial struggles in an interview with PTI in September 2023.

“If I look at my bank balance, I have what I had at the beginning of the year. It is 900 euros,” Nagal told PTI.

”I am investing whatever I am making. The yearly cost when I travel with one coach is costing me around 80 lakh to 1 crore, and that is just with one travelling coach (no physio). Whatever I have made I have already invested,” Nagal explained further. 

For a player facing this kind of financial situation, booking an expensive hotel for two weeks can be a difficult decision. An early loss rarely ends a career on the spot, but back-to-back first-round exits quickly burn through travel funds. Over time, that steady drain forces lower-tier players to cut support staff or quit the tour altogether simply because they can no longer afford to reach the next tournament.

To minimize losses, lower-ranked players routinely book flexible, fully refundable hotel rates rather than cheaper non-refundable deals, or they hold off on extending bookings past round one until their match finishes. Many also split rooms with fellow competitors or opt for private rentals outside official tournament hotels to dodge steep cancellation penalties.

Travelling with coaches and physiotherapists makes things harder, as changing hotels adds travel costs and disturbs their routine. Players using tournament hotels must also follow different booking and cancellation rules than those booking privately.

The ITF’s World Tennis Tour hospitality guidelines give us a good example of how these arrangements work.

What ITF hotel rules tell us about players’ accommodation

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has special hotel and hospitality rules for its W50, W75, and W100 tournaments. These rules show that arranging accommodation involves much more than simply giving players a hotel room.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) outlines strict accommodation rules for its World Tennis Tour, offering main draw singles players tournament-provided rooms for a set number of nights, typically three nights at W75 events and four nights at W100 tournaments.

However, these benefits come with rigid conditions. Athletes must process all bookings, changes, and cancellations directly through the official ITF UNO system, or risk losing their right to hotel support entirely.

Logistical slip-ups can quickly turn into financial penalties. Missing a booking deadline or failing to notify organizers about delayed arrivals from a back-to-back tournament means players must absorb standard commercial hotel rates themselves.

Furthermore, because these allowances rarely extend to support staff, players are left to pay out-of-pocket for extra rooms or coach-sharing fees, compounding the financial strain of competing on the lower-tier circuit.

Now, here’s another interesting part of the story. As a player, you always want to win more matches. But the more you win, the higher your expenses can become. 

A player who goes further in a tournament earns more prize money. However, they also need to stay in the host city for more days.

This means paying for extra hotel nights, food, local travel, and rooms for their support team.

The timing of prize money can make things even harder for lower-ranked players.

Polish tennis player Maja Chwalińska faced this problem during her impressive run at the 2026 French Open.

According to Tennis.com, Chwalińska struggled to pay for her hotel in Paris.

“I actually struggled to pay for the hotel, because you know that we get the check after the tournament,” she said in a post-match interview. 

Chwalińska’s strong run eventually improved her financial situation. However, her experience showed how difficult it can be to manage daily expenses while waiting for tournament earnings.

This also shows that hotel bookings create financial problems, but there is also a bigger mental challenge.

Professional tennis players spend almost the entire year travelling between tournaments. They must adjust to new cities, different hotels, unfamiliar places, and changing schedules.

For lower-ranked players, money worries add even more pressure.

In an August 2025 report for The Guardian, sports psychologist Kevin Clancy discussed the mental challenges faced by players competing on the Challenger Tour.

“It’s roughly about 20% of the time that you’re on court and hitting the ball, so there’s 80% of the time where you’re doing a lot of thinking,” Clancy explained.

“Tennis is a sport that mentally could beat you up really, really badly. For players at Challenger level, it’s about survival.”

There are even some players who share small hotel rooms or even sleep on floors to save money. Others struggle to afford proper food while travelling between tournaments.

A comfortable place to stay, a regular daily routine, and the right support staff can all help players prepare for matches and recover after them.

A player may be preparing for an important match while also thinking about whether they can afford another week in the city. This creates extra pressure in a sport where focus and confidence are already very important.

Andy Roddick’s comments bring attention to a part of professional tennis that fans rarely think about.

When a player enters a Grand Slam, fans usually focus on their possible opponents, ranking points, and prize money. However, players must make several financial decisions before they even step onto the court.

For the biggest stars, hotel and travel costs may be easy to manage. But for players outside the top 100, even a few extra hotel nights can affect their finances.

Taro Daniel’s monthly expenses, Sumit Nagal’s financial struggles, and Nikoloz Basilashvili’s reported losses show that earning prize money does not always mean having financial security.

Chwalińska’s French Open experience also shows that even a successful Grand Slam run can create immediate money problems.

In the end, tennis players must balance their dreams with their financial situation. Booking a hotel for two weeks means believing they can go deep into a tournament. But it also means taking the risk of paying for nights they may never use.

In a sport where every match could be their last, even deciding how long to stay at a hotel can become a gamble.