LIMOUSINES with clouded windows will draw up outside the players’ entrance of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club this morning to drop off the elite of the game, proof to the public that tennis pays.

Through those same gates will come the rank and file of the sport — unchauffeured, un-sponsored and unknown — who are proof that it does not.

While the men’s singles champion will walk away with £655,000, 75 per cent of the players will be out of the tournament after two rounds. Many will struggle to break even.

“It’s very expensive to come here,” said Maria Sanchez, 23, of Spain, who is ranked 153 in the women’s singles and 95 as a doubles player. “You have to pay your plane tickets, your coach’s plane tickets, hotel accommodation for both of you, and you have to pay your coach for being here.”

She has come through the qualifiers, held last week on wind-blasted courts at Roehampton, southwest London. She lost on a tie break in the final round of the singles, but won through to Wimbledon with her doubles partner, Stephanie Aloro.

She now hopes to cover her costs. If they are knocked out in the first round, she will make just under £2,000. Winning will guarantee her at least £3,385. “You are always fighting to get here,” she said. “I play for teams in Germany and France to get money together to come here. Sometimes I do a bit of coaching, too.”

Ms Aloro, 23, also failed to qualify for the more lucrative singles tournament. “I haven’t broken even yet,” she said.

At Wimbledon, players are on a daily allowance of £170, to cover accommodation, travel and expenses, but just getting to the event can prove costly.

Antonella Zanetti, 25, a singles contender from Rome, paid about £275 to get her and her coach to Wimbledon.

Then there are coaching fees from £550 per week and accommodation for the competitor and the coach, which start at about £60 each for bed and breakfast, and another £60 if a trainer is also involved.

Any prize-money that players are fortunate enough to win is taxed by the British Government and, if they are not a British citizen, by their country of residence.

The plight of tennis’s lower class has been highlighted by one of the sport’s aristocrats. Martina Navratilova is perhaps the most prominent voice calling for more even distribution of wealth. “The rewards should be distributed a little more evenly,” she has written.

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