How ATP’s Baseline plan supports Jesper de Jong’s breakthrough 2025 season | ATP Tour

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How ATP’s Baseline program supports Jesper de Jong’s breakthrough 2025 season

Newcomer investment, minimum protection and injury protection are the three pillars of the ATP financial support plan

January 18, 2026

The life of a professional tennis player is fraught with stress: match-day stress, last-minute travel arrangements and, for many outside the top 100, financial uncertainty.

Dutchman Jesper de Jong knows this better than most. The 25-year-old earned his first ATP points in 2019 but was still outside the top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings at the end of the 2024 season, when he won just two tour-level matches in his career and was ranked 112th.

Limited resources meant he was unable to make critical investments to grow quickly.

But at the start of the 2025 season, with a $200,000 advance from the ATP’s groundbreaking Baseline Program, De Jong was able to execute the plan, leading to a breakout season with 17 wins and a year-end ranking of 73rd.

His income exceeds $780,000, putting him on the path to financial independence.

“Going into a season, there’s no guarantee you’re going to make a certain amount of money, which makes it difficult to make the investment that has the best chance of success,” DeJong said of the Baseline Plan, who qualifies for the rookie investment pillar. “With Newcomer, you get $200,000 and then you can plan how to distribute it throughout the season.

“It brings a sense of calm. Without help, you might plan to spend money on coaching, but then you get injured and you can’t live up to that promise.”

Rookie investment applies to players who finished in the year-end top 125 for the first time last season. DeJong is one of five players to benefit from the program in 2025.

For the first time, De Jong took advantage of his new investment and traveled a full season with strength and conditioning coach Bas van Bentum (who previously worked with Talon Grikspur). It also allowed him to add coach Timo Deback to his squad. The former world number 40 traveled with De Jong for 15 weeks.

Players like De Jong who qualify and participate can get up to $200,000 back in full, which will come in the form of a three-year loan starting in 2026. Players return 50% of ATP tournament winnings [not Grand Slams] and by providing off-site services.

This plan is a game changer for De Jong, allowing him to fulfill his commitments with Van Bentum and De Back even after a slow start to the season.

“Last January I didn’t win a race and I spent a lot of money going to Australia. So it’s a relief to have someone new. Your performance throughout the year [of expected costs] It’s covered by the ATP,” De Jong said.

“I’ve talked to other players and everyone loves it. I had a good season last year and made a lot of money, but other guys didn’t have the best year and didn’t make a lot of money. So being new is a very big deal for them.”

Newcomer investment is one of the three pillars of the ATP Baseline programme, which aims to provide further financial support beyond on-court revenue so that players can earn a sustainable living through the sport. This is the second year of a three-year trial.

By 2025, the program will benefit 30 eligible players with $2 million, while in 2024, the program allocated $1.3 million to 26 players.

The minimum guaranteed pillar guarantees a minimum income level for the top 250 players. ATP bridges any shortfall to ensure players at levels 1-100 earn at least $300,000, players at levels 101-175 earn $200,000 or more, and players at levels 176-250 earn no less than $100,000. In 2025, 24 players benefited.

The Income Guarantee Guarantee Pillar supports players returning to tour following injury.

Last year at the Australian Open, De Jong was eliminated in the first round of qualifying. Currently ranked 73rd, just two spots below his career high, he finds himself in the main draw, where he will face former world number one Daniil Medvedev.

After playing against top ten star Jannik Sinner, he’s looking forward to the challenge of going up against one of the game’s elite players [Rome] and Alexander Zverev [Roland Garros] last year.

“For the chance of winning, you don’t want to draw a top player like Medvedev, but at the same time it’s an opportunity to play against one of the most famous players in the sport,” De Jong said.

“He was back in Rome last year with Sinner, so it was like I was entering the lion’s den. It was very tough, but playing against him in that stadium was something I enjoyed. I felt like I had a really good game.

“Against Zverev, I came back from two sets down in the first round and played the first set well and I won. But he ended up physically killing me and won in four sets.”