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11/25/11 3:54 AM | Johan Lindahl
British tennis officials are hoping they can convince the UK tax man to ease back on a levy which many feel will almost kill ATP tennis in the country.
At issues is the unique British tax on international individual sportsmen - teams and the London Olympics are exempt. Tennis players, golfers and athletics competitors are taxed on percentage of their worldwide endorsement earnings based on a pro rate of the time the spend in Britain.
Wimbledon - no matter what the tax hit - is considered out of danger due to its exalted status. But lesser events like Queen's Club and the World Tour Finals are especially at risk. A mega-millionaire such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic can find himself hit with a tax in excess of even the several million dollar payout for a champion (at Wimbledon).
The inequality has already driven Nadal from Queen's Club, with the Spaniard now signed on for three years at the Halle event in Germany for his grass court preparation.
The Finals only have two years of life left in London, with talk already starting of where they might next go. "We're taking this very seriously," said Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper. "One of our priorities is to retain this event and tackle the player-tax issue.
"We're busy having high-level discussions with the chancellor, prime minister and treasury minister at the moment. The government has got a lot of issues on its plate but we had the prime minister at the National Tennis Centre for three hours the other week and I've had a letter from the chancellor this week explaining the things he is going to do."
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