De Jong’s Baseline Windfall Sparks 2025 Rise
Jesper de Jong turned financial strain into on-court fire with the ATP’s Baseline Programme, securing coaches and stability for a season of 17 wins and elite matchups. Now facing Medvedev at the Australian Open, he’s proof that targeted support can rewrite a journeyman’s path.
The professional tennis tour chews up dreams in its relentless churn—last-minute flights, mounting bills, and the quiet dread of scraping by outside the rankings spotlight. Dutchman Jesper de Jong lived that edge for years, picking up his first ATP point in 2019 yet closing 2024 at No. 112 with just two tour-level victories. Then came the ATP’s Baseline Programme, a $200,000 advance under its Newcomer Investment pillar that let him build a team and chase breakthroughs without the constant scramble.
This funding covered a full-season trek with fitness coach Bas van Bentum, who had honed Tallon Griekspoor‘s endurance, and added former World No. 40 Thiemo de Bakker for 15 weeks of tactical sharpening. De Jong racked up 17 wins, climbed to year-end No. 73, and pocketed over $780,000—enough to ease the financial tightrope that once defined his career.
“Going into a season there is no guarantee that you’re going to earn a certain amount of money, which makes it difficult to make the investments that give you the best chance of succeeding,” De Jong said of the Baseline Programme, for which he qualified under the Newcomer Investment pillar. “With Newcomer you get the $200,000 and then you can plan how you’re going to spread it out through the season.”
Weathering the early-season storm
January 2025 hit De Jong like a cold front—no wins, just the grind of Australian hard courts draining his wallet after a qualifying flop at last year’s Australian Open. The advance acted as a buffer, keeping van Bentum and de Bakker on board through the lean start and letting him drill footwork patterns that turned sluggish rallies into pressing offenses. That stability shifted his focus from survival to strategy, where heavy topspin forehands started landing deeper, forcing errors from baseline foes.
Without it, an injury or slump could have forced cuts to his support, but the programme’s structure—repayment through 50 per cent of ATP prize money outside Grand Slams, plus off-court tasks—kept commitments intact. From 2026, it evolves into a three-year loan, but for De Jong, one of five Newcomers who cracked the year-end Top 125 for the first time, it meant planning a season around growth, not just getting by. The calm let him experiment with a sharper 1–2 pattern, serving wide to pull opponents off the baseline before ripping inside-out forehands.
Trading blows with top-tier firepower
Spring clay brought De Jong’s sharpened tools into the fire, starting with a Rome clash against Jannik Sinner, where the Italian’s post-injury return met a Dutchman unafraid to mix slice approaches with down-the-line passes. The stadium buzzed as he held serve through tense games, disrupting Sinner’s rhythm with varied pace on the slow red dirt. Though he fell, the match etched confidence into his game, proving he could hang in high-stakes exchanges.
At Roland Garros, he rallied from two sets down in the opener before facing Alexander Zverev, stealing the first set with crosscourt backhands that exploited the German’s positioning. Zverev’s relentless retrieval wore him down in four, but the physical toll highlighted van Bentum’s impact—De Jong lasted longer in rallies, his improved stamina turning potential routs into battles under the Parisian crowds. These runs, fueled by the Baseline’s security, bridged his ranking gap and set up hard-court momentum.
Forging paths beyond prize money alone
The Baseline’s broader net caught more than just newcomers; its Minimum Guarantee pillar locked in earnings for Top 250 players—$300,000 minimum for Nos. 1-100, $200,000 for 101-175, and $100,000 for 176-250—with 24 benefiting in 2025. Income Protection aided injury comebacks, while the full initiative disbursed $2 million across 30 players, up from $1.3 million for 26 the year before in this three-year trial’s second phase. De Jong saw the ripple effects talking to peers, where uneven seasons didn’t spell ruin.
“Last year in January I didn’t win a match and I had the big expense of going to Australia. So to have the Newcomer was a big sigh of relief. Your full year [of expected costs] is covered by the ATP,” he said, capturing the mental reset that let him push limits.
“I’ve spoken to other players and everyone is loving it. I had a good season last year and made some good money, but other guys didn’t have their best year and didn’t earn a lot. So Newcomer was a very big deal for them.”
Now at No. 73, two spots from his career high, De Jong steps into the Australian Open main draw against former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, trading last year’s qualifying exit for a shot at upset on those bouncy hard courts. He eyes low slices to Medvedev’s forehand, aiming to jam the Russian’s returns and open angles for inside-in winners amid Melbourne’s humid roar. With the Baseline’s foundation solid, this matchup isn’t just a test—it’s a launchpad, where every point carries the weight of a season redefined by possibility rather than peril.
