 Hello and welcome to Tennis Conditioning TV from Shamel Shalke in Egypt. My name is Philipp Halfmann and I'm the Director of Exercise and Sport Science at the IAAPH and I'm also the author of Advanced Concepts of Strength and Conditioning for Tennis. In today's Tennis Conditioning TV episode, I will talk about the annual cost of touring on the Professional Tennis Circuit, the ATP WTA or ITF Tour. I will talk about the main expenses on tour and provide some tips on how to keep expenses at a minimum. Did you know that many professional athletes spend at least $100,000 each year? Players have to account for travel and hospitality, coaching, training, nutritional supplements and possibly equipment and closing if a sponsor is unavailable. The biggest expense is travel and hospitality. Therefore, you want to decide where you want to play. You want to go where there are a lot of tournaments and distances to travel are not so far. So taking a closer look at the tournament calendar makes a lot of sense. Generally speaking, Europe is a good place to play because there are a lot of tournaments throughout the year and most of the tournaments can be reached by car. Within 8 to 10 hours, you can get basically anywhere in Europe. On the other hand, competition in Europe is much stiffer, but if you're really serious about becoming a professional tennis player, coming to Europe in the summer is a serious consideration. Playing conditions are generally good. You can get to play on clay courts and level of play is high because you could be facing number one players from so many different countries in Europe. For example, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and so forth, which also provides you with a more realistic view of your real capabilities. Many tennis players often travel to places like Asia or Africa and stay there for a few weeks in order to gain points and improve their ranking since competition is usually easier. Here in Schamelscheik, for instance, you can play more than 20 tournaments each weekend without any traveling. The downside is that you are stuck in one place and eating the same food for three weeks or more can be really challenging. It makes a lot of sense to travel in a team. Two players and one coach works pretty well. Reason being is that the cost per player decreases. The players can play doubles and practice together, have more fun socially and can continue to practice with their coach while being on tour, which allows for continuous improvements. Also, finding other good players to practice with or to have practice matches is easy since everybody is looking to play a few sets here and there. If you're interested in forming a team, you can contact us at info at tennisconditioning.tv. As you can see, there are many options available, each having their own advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the day, you have to decide for yourself what suits you best, but the most important aspect is that you have a certain level of play and ability that allows you to win matches at the ITF future level. Well, that's it again for today's episode. As usual opinions differ, what's your point of view? Let us know below in the comment section. A brand new episode will be available next Sunday. So make sure you don't miss it and subscribe. In the meantime, I recommend you watch some of the previous episodes. You should really watch them all. If you liked what you saw, tell your friends. I'm sure they will appreciate it. I'm Philipp Halfmann. Thank you for watching and auf Wiedersehen!