Social Media Affects Professional Tennis
Social media has both a positive and a negative affect on professional tennis. In assessing their joining up with social media such as facebook, twitter and instagram, professional tennis players are opening themselves up to interaction with their fan base, or, the unsavory arena of the ‘gambler’. This can have either a positive or negative feedback, many times depending on the result of the day – winning or losing.
Winning
The saying goes, ‘everyone loves a winner’ and it is true in both cases cited above. The fans of a particular tennis player and those who place bets on the same player are both positively reinforced when their player wins. The fans get to tell their friends how they are aligned with a winner and the gambler gets to collect his/her winnings. Both are winners.
Losing
The saying also goes, ‘everyone hates a loser’. This also tends to be true in both cases. Those fans who have their favorite player lose also tend to feel the effects of losing and ‘take it to heart’. The gambler has a much stronger sense of losing as it is, ‘money out of his/her pocket’. In some (many?) cases, money they don’t have.
There are other applications of a professional tennis players results that are affected. Their endorsements and appearance fees. The more positive a player is perceived the more money they are paid for endorsements, or appearance fees. An appearance fee is paid up front to the athlete to appear/play at a particular tournament. This is paid regardless of the players results in that tournament. Obviously, if they do well in the tournament they make that money as well. However, the appearance fee is paid to advertise the players participation which attracts paid spectators. As far as the endorsement fees paid by sponsors the more positive the social media perceives a player, the more sales are made by the sponsor which results in higher fees paid to the player.
Conclusion
Professional tennis players have the option of either signing up or not signing up for social media. Signing up means opening up to a world of positives and negatives – the negatives even going so far as death threats. Athletes go through stages of success and failure. Tennis players are no different. Depending on the country they come from and their exposure to the social population their results can have a greater or lesser effect on their personal lives. This can certainly affect their personal ‘world view’ and either add or detract from their continued performance in the world of professional tennis.
Would you sign up on social media if it meant going so far as receiving ‘death threats’?
