While businesses collapse and banks wobble, while thousands lose their jobs and many thousands more are consigned to poverty, the multi-millionaire stars of tennis are enjoying an even more prosperous start than usual to the new year.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer may earn as much as a seven-figure dollar sum during their first fortnight's work of 2009, more than most people get in a lifetime, even in the developed world.

The super-popular world number one from Spain and his record-breaking rival from Switzerland are making a sensationally lucrative detour in the Gulf, first at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, the so-called Capitala World Championship from January 1-3, to be followed next week by a third level tournament, the ExxonMobil Qatar Open in Doha from January 5-10.

They finish this hugely profitable warm-up for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year only eight days before the Australian Open starts, by which time their behind-the-scenes payments may well have reached new levels.

When Federer last competed in Doha, in 2006, his appearance money was said to be 500,000 dollars. He did not return in 2007, because the tournament apparently declined to cover an extra percentage demanded by a new agent.

But Federer and Nadal are probably receiving amounts similar to that this time, as well as a comparably large appearance fee in Abu Dhabi, which also has a winner-takes-all 250,000-dollar prize. Add the 270,000 dollars total for the first and second prizes in Qatar and the personal tally of both should reach seven digits in 10 days.

These tremendous sums are no more than predictable improvements for a sport with multi-national sponsors. The outgoing executive chairman of the ATP Tour, Etienne de Villiers, claimed there had been one billion dollars of new investment during the past three years, with record breaking levels of prize money.

Nadal won more than anyone last year with 6,773,776 dollars in prize money. Whatever he wins during the next three will be supplemented by six million euros from Majorcan tourist authority to endorse his home island as a holiday destination.

Nevertheless, Nadal still has some way to go to equal the income of Federer, who is ranked fifth in Forbes Magazine's list of best paid celebs who are aged less than 30.

Federer is reported as earning at least 35 million dollars in 2007, the year he captured three of the four Grand Slams. It comprises 10 million dollars in prize money, and 25 million dollars in endorsements from Nike, Gillette, Mercedes-Benz, Wilson, and the Swiss companies Emmi and Jura.

It is true that both stars are respected for charity work. Nadal last year started his foundation to seek "social assistance for those groups in most need and cooperation in the development of the most poor countries", while Federer takes a keen interest in his four-year-old foundation which supports Imbewu, an aid agency for disadvantaged children in South Africa.

"For me what I do is never about the money," Federer often sometimes stressed about his motivation in tennis. "I usually don't think about it at all."

Nevertheless, life is all too urgently about the money for many people. While it makes sense for Nadal and Federer to capitalise on their opportunities during all-too-brief sporting careers, their fabulous affluence highlights the still-widening disparities which cripple the planet during its worst economic crisis.

AFP

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