Tuesday 27 September 2016 12:30, UK
Heather Watson admits she is caught in a vicious circle as she continually looks to improve her game.
The 24-year-old is currently ranked 76 in the world after a tough second half of the 2016 season saw her drop from a career-high ranking of 38.
The appointment of a new coach in John-Laffnie de Jager will help after a spell without a mentor, having split from Diego Veronelli earlier this year, but his arrival comes with added expense for Watson.
Her 2016 earnings to date stand at just over $500,000 and the British No 2 admits to making only a small profit margin when all her outgoings are taken into account. She believes she needs a team of three or four with her all-year round, including a physio and hitter, to enable her to compete with the best regularly.
However, to assemble such a backroom team she needs to be earning more money, which she can only do by getting more consistent results. To achieve that she needs a backroom team.
"I'd love to have that sort of team with me," she said. "I'd feel more confident, more prepared for tournaments, more professional in every way but I need to get to the level where I can afford that. Then it's a cycle and I feel like I could keep the ball rolling but I've got to get there first.
"I still have to push hard. The way I was brought up was to be thrifty. But I'm not making big margins. I definitely need to raise my level and ranking. At the beginning of the year I was doing well but since then I haven't really done a lot. But I've been playing doubles and that definitely helps.
"People see the prize money but they don't count what's going out like, for example, the coaching, the travel - nothing apart from the hotel when you're in the tournament is paid for.
"It's interesting, though, because we don't really talk about this and everybody, like outside, just assumes all of this but you are your own business, you're employing people, you're paying somebody's yearly salary."
There are other revenue streams, with sponsorships proving vital. But that is also part of the cycle, with deals often following success on the court.
"Without sponsorships it would definitely be very hard," she added. "But it's kind of like when you are doing well, you don't need those sponsorships but they'll come along and then when you're not, it's the other way around but that's the way it goes.
"I think I'm also lucky that I'm British and I guess there aren't that many players there so it's good to be a tennis player."
