British star raises hopes of bright future after joining innovative funding community
If a 19 year old Andy Murray had offered fans a share of his future earnings in return for a small investment those that took the opportunity would be very wealthy. Now, thanks to funding platform FANtium, the chance to be part of the journey of Britain’s next big hope has arrived.
Patrick Brady, a 19 year old Londoner who’s played in Junior Grand Slam appearances at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, is offering potential investors a return of 6.5% of his future earnings over the next 6 years once he reaches the top 150 in the ATP rankings. In addition, each investor will receive exclusive benefits from Patrick such as video analysis & coaching of their own games and access to a private chat.
Why would tennis fans take on such a risk as Patrick’s earning from tennis so far have only reached $2,150 in 2024?
Over the last year, other athletes on FANtium have raised more than $500,000, thanks to the support from the investor community. A total of $160,000 in prize money has been redistributed to these investors, aligning their success with that of the athletes. Investors in Alexander Bublik saw a 32% return, as his investors invested at a valuation of $1.25M at the start of 2023 to and saw him return $1.65M by the end, highlighting the potential for significant returns.
FANtium now works with players from 14 different countries, illustrating the global appeal of the platform. The athletes are supported by investors from 117 countries, demonstrating the widespread enthusiasm for supporting tennis players’ careers.
Tennishead managed to grab some time with Patrick during his busy schedule to talk about his career so far and his plans for the future
Tell us about how your love for tennis first started?
“I started at a young age playing at a local club. Dad was a coach at this club in Warren in London, so I just grew up playing there at five/six years old and just grew a big passion with the sport very quickly.”
“I was six/seven years old competing and having fun with 50-year-old’s and trying to beat them, I soon grew a lot of passion for the sport. Since then I have played some of the junior Slams, I am currently No.1 in the UK for the under-19’s ATP rankings, so there has been some kind of progress along the way since I started, but still want to go a lot more and see how it goes and try and look to play Wimbledon this year, that would be a good goal.”
Do you consider yourself to be a full time professional tennis player?
“I am definitely working as a full-time professional, in the sense that I am travelling around the world, training very hard and I am competing globally. And I am obviously getting paid, but the thing is at a tennis level you probably need to be around 150 to be a true professional and get paid for it. I am about 720 in the world at the moment.
“It’s amazing how tennis is such a, I don’t know maybe it’s similar to golf, in that individualised sports you have to be so high in what you do to be a full-time professional. So, I guess I am classified as a professional tennis player, but I still don’t want to say that until I get to a certain stage where I am starting to make money out of the sport. I think that’s a good way to start saying, ‘okay I am a true professional, you know I am inside the top 200, 150, 100 and then I can start saying I am going around the Grand Slams’, I am a true professional then I would probably say.”
Have you committed to a lifelong career in tennis or is it very much a ‘day by day’ process for you personally?
“I think I have said this is it from the age of six-years-old when I fell in love with the sport, I think I always knew where I wanted to go with the sport and now it is kind of falling in place, where I can try and make a living out of this. This is not why I am doing it, but it obviously helps you to afford to do what you love. So I would say it was from a young age actually, that I was ‘this is what I am doing’.”
What are your plans for the next year?
“I just came back a month ago from Cleveland, I had a Challenger in America, and I was out there for three weeks. The first couple of weeks were challenging, but I managed to do well the third week. I came through qualifying, and won the first round against a German who was around 400 and then lost against a good player from America who was about 150, so my level has definitely been improving.
“The main goal for me is just to keep improving and keep focussing on improving my game, and seeing where that takes me. I have some goals that I would like to hit ranking wise, and certain tournaments that I’d like to be able to aim to play for. As I said, Wimbledon is always a big one for the Brits, so I would definitely love to be knocking on the door for playing Wimbledon this year. Whether that is main draw or qualifying, we will have to see how my ranking develops over these next few months. I definitely believe that is something that I can look to aim for, that is probably my biggest goal this year and to keep improving and build the ranking up.”
What style of tennis player are you?
“I’d say that I am someone who is very creative, I am also solid from the baseline. I’d say I am creative at the back, I like to come to the net, I have very good hands and so does my brother actually. I think that’s because we started at such a young age, so we like to play with creativity, with flare and also being a bit like [Novak] Djokovic not missing as much. I’m not 6’6 so you have got to be solid with certain things at the back and not missing as much. I would probably say that I am quite a flare and creative player, I can play in many different ways so I’d say I am quite versatile to playing different ways, because of playing at such a young age.”
Give us some insight into your of the court physical training program?
“It has been tough the last month, because I have been injured. I have had an injury in my wrist, knee and foot, so as a tennis player you go through half of your journey getting injured. I haven’t played other sports that are so physical on the body, where your full body is getting used. It is not physical, but you are hitting that ball extremely hard and you are moving side-to-side, forward and back, and you are moving extremely fast. Not only that, but you are also focussing on your opponent, so physically it is a very demanding sport.
“There were certain months where, because I wanted to improve physically and I knew that it was so important, I would for a month do nine hours a week on a treadmill to keep my base up, because cardio is so important in tennis and that was extremely hard, something that I don’t miss doing at the moment. During pre-season usually as tennis players we hit the gym a lot harder than during the season, because during the season it’s more trying to maintain and being able to be fast, agile, quick around the court, stable, so a lot of balance work. It is hard to say exactly to put on how many hours I do a week. I’d probably say around 15 hours, maybe a little bit less.”
How have you made the decision to give away a share of your future earnings to FANtium investors?
“I think it Is because we have realised that being able to do what I want to do, which is take this on to be a professional tennis player, means having to travel around the world a lot. And even if you are playing at an extremely high level, a lot of the time you are not even breaking even. So, for example when I want to America I went to California for a couple of tournaments and then I had to go to Ohio state for another tournament which are Challengers, which are a very high level in tennis just below the ATP Tour, you are still not breaking even. It is a very expensive sport and I think that is where we felt that Fantium could help with that massively, even though that means that I would give a percentage back I felt that it was a very good decision for me to make to help get where I want to get to and give a percentage back to the people that have helped me. Not just in money, I have always tried to be like that with little successes I have had in the past with playing at Wimbledon juniors and I have always wanted to give back to the people that have helped me so much along this path and this journey, because without it there is not a chance I would be able to do it. That is probably the biggest reason why I thought this was a good decision.
What will you do with the $125k you raise from FANtium investors?
“I am 100% going to invest the FANtium cash into my training and trying to do things the right way, just little things like having a good fitness trainer at home and being able to pay them. When I am travelling being able to eat well, I think little things like this will just be able to help me and being able to have good training blocks along the way, as he [Dad] has already mentioned with going to Argentina in the pre-season maybe next year, being able to do that will be massively helpful in my development.
“I think it just in any form of life just trying to maximise what you can achieve, and all I want to do is see how far I can go with it and see where that takes me really.”
Will it add extra pressure on your young shoulders knowing you have investors that are looking for a positive return from you on their cash?
“I haven’t really thought about that, but no not really to be honest. And not to be in any way arrogant, but I feel like if I do all the right things in this path and on this journey then I can give that money back.”
So how does the funding of talents on FANtium work?
Fans purchase a FANtium token directly from the talent and in turn get to participate in the talent’s future earnings. This means that when the talents win big, you win big too.
Supporters participate in the success of the talents for up to ten seasons. Talents use the capital to kick start their career as they are not earning enough prize money yet, to cover costs like travel, a personal coach and tournament admissions. Token holders will usually participate in the athlete’s earnings from prize money and / or endorsement deals once the talent has broken into the ATP / WTA top 150 for up to ten seasons.
If you feel like getting involved, FANtium are looking to onboard 30-50 new players in 2024 and you can grab your own slice of the action by visiting FANtium.com. And for close followers of British tennis, the investment opportunity in Patrick Brady is now open.
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