Want your kid to become a tennis player? Prepare to spend big

Growing up in the Black Sea town of Constanta, Halep was in need of international competition to advance her tennis career.

Corneliu Idu came to the 14-year-old's rescue -- and she has gone on to reach the 2014 French Open final, and climb as high as No. 2 in the rankings.

"It was incredibly expensive, I only had my parents as support and no sponsors," Halep said in an interview at this month's Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open in central China.

Underfunded

Unlike the four grand slam nations, whose wealthy tennis federations all have funding programs for young players, there was no financial support for the Haleps from the underfunded Romanian tennis association.

Idu, one of the wealthiest men in Constanta, was the owner of the Tenis Club Idu, where Halep played.

His money helped her enter events on the European junior circuit for two years up to the age of 16.

"That was it, I didn't have any other sponsors," said Halep, now 25. "My parents did their best to get me to where I am today, but it was good for us we had that help."

With Novak Djokovic this year becoming the first man to earn more than $100 million in prize money and Serena Williams the world's best-paid female athlete with close to $29 million in total annual earnings, according to Forbes, it's easy to think tennis is a highly-profitable sport.

Expensive

Although Idu's bet on Halep worked out well -- she is now ranked fourth in the world and has made more than $11 million in prize money -- the cost of becoming a tennis pro can be prohibitively expensive.

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