I beat Federer as kid but spent ‘lonely’ tennis career playing in front of no crowds… now I work in commercial property

CONOR NILAND beat Roger Federer as a junior and practised with Serena Williams.

He even trained with Andy Murray and took on Novak Djokovic in the biggest tennis stadium in the world, the Arthur Ashe at the US Open. 

But like the majority of tennis players, his journeyman career which peaked at world No129 was a lonely slog often playing in front of zero fans.

And now he is enjoying a very different career working in commercial property after swapping dropshots for deals and serves for suits.

Niland was born exactly six weeks after Federer in 1981 and they crossed paths 13 years later when the Irish youngster got the better of the rising Swiss star.

However, their tennis careers went in very different directions, Federer winning 20 Grand Slam titles while Niland reached the main draw in two majors.

It was the first of those two for Niland, though, that he is best remembered – and prompted his award-winning autobiography The Racket. 

Because after years of plugging away on the Futures and Challenger circuits after going pro in 2005, the levels below the ATP Tour, Niland finally booked his spot in a Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2011.

He came through three rounds of qualifying, saving five match points in the first, and was pitted against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino with the winner to face that man Federer on Centre Court. 

But despite leading 4-1 in the fifth with a double break, Niland lost and missed out on his special reunion. 

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Two months later, he qualified for the US Open for the first time and was drawn against No1 seed Djokovic in round one before disaster hit again as he was struck down by food poisoning. 

For Niland, it was the irony of his nearly moments, his unfortunate mishaps, his so-close-yet-so-far experiences that prompted the “cathartic” process of writing his memoir.

He told SunSport: “Andre Agassi said he hated tennis. I sometimes felt like tennis hated me.

“I think about the Mannarino match that I lost at Wimbledon every day more or less.

“It was impossible to avoid the fact we were playing for Centre Court against Roger Federer.

“Obviously I think that impacted me not being able to close out the match.

“It was bittersweet. To have played Federer at Wimbledon would really get people’s attention but the fact I lost that match has made the book a lot more interesting and it’s changed the whole narrative of the story, made it a bit more of a struggle.”

Niland’s struggles were certainly physical in New York just before facing Djokovic during one of the best seasons of his record-breaking career.

He added: “I was out at dinner on the Friday night when my phone went crazy. I was really excited but obviously it meant my tournament was likely over in the first round but I would get to play on a main court.

“But I woke up at 2am Sunday morning really sick with food poisoning and it’s hard enough to do any damage against Novak healthy, let alone being fully sick for two-and-a-half days. 

“I was really struggling, completely drained and feeling delicate so again it was another kick in the teeth.”

A seven-hour taxi on pretty iffy roads in Uzbekistan for a paycheck was a pretty big wake-up call

Conor Niland

Niland lost the first set 6-0 but eventually won a game in the second before being forced to retire trailing 6-0 5-1. 

The US Open ordeal somewhat epitomised Niland’s tennis career, in truth: the fleeting highs often overshadowed by the arduous reality. 

The Limerick star went through college tennis in America then embarked on his journey as a pro.

And what a journey it was, winning his three ATP Challenger titles in India, Israel and Austria. 

The first of his five ITF Futures tournament wins came in Wrexham in August 2006 when he resisted the temptation of nightly trips to Wetherspoons.

North Wales was quickly followed by an unforgettable trip to Uzbekistan.

Niland, 43, explained: “In Wrexham, there was a swing door in the hotel lobby right into a full-on pub.

“On the other side, tennis players are on their laptops booking flights. It was these two sides of your twenties in one perfect picture. 

“I stayed on the right side of the door and won the tournament but didn’t have a night out in Wrexham because I went to Uzbekistan straight after that.

“Uzbekistan was a memorable one.

“Having just finished college in California where I was living a nice lifestyle, a seven-hour taxi on pretty iffy roads for a paycheck at a Challenger tournament was a pretty big wake-up call.”

Top tennis players earn millions every year – Jannik Sinner made £15.7million in 2024 alone – but lower down the rankings, outside the top 100, the brutal financial landscape is bleak as grafters rely on match wins to stay in the black.

Niland was given around £10,000 per year from Sport Ireland but needed prize money to fund what is an expensive career, “bouncing from country to country trying to make ends meet”. 

He did have a sponsor for a while after leaving college but lost them when he smashed a ball in anger and accidentally hit a line judge, prompting an immediate disqualification.

At Challenger level, having a full-time coach is virtually impossible, let alone a physio, masseur, dietician or manager to travel with throughout the year.

And the lack of team dynamic makes tennis a lonely sport, especially as the only people players see semi-regularly are their rivals.

It also makes it a boring lifestyle, spending endless hours flying solo, waiting and simply trying to kill hours.

Add in the fact that the rewards are often unfulfilling – all but one player loses in every tournament and the crowds were often non-existent – and it makes one wonder how Niland coped.

‘IS THIS WORTH IT?’

He added: “Every week when you lost, there was a constant thought, ‘Is this worth it?’

“The carrot of playing Grand Slams is what kept me going and it’s no coincidence that I qualified and played main-draw Wimbledon and US Open in 2011 and I retired in 2012.

“I met lots of good people but I didn’t make any real lasting friendships.

“I read a lot, that helped to curb the boredom. 

“Between matches, you don’t want to go sightseeing because you need to stay off your feet. 

“You can’t go to the cinema in Slovakia because you can’t understand the language, right? These difficult challenges made life a little bit dull a lot of the time. 

“There were not enough crowds. It wouldn’t be rare to have just nobody there. Literally nobody. That was a problem, I would have taken a partisan crowd over nobody. 

“The Israel Open final had a really good crowd but by and large you’re genuinely playing in front of your coach and your opponent’s coach and that’s top 200 in the world level.”

Amid an ongoing hip injury, Niland hung up his racquet aged 30 and is still involved in tennis with the Irish Davis Cup team.

But his day job is in commercial property as Associate Director of Retail and Leisure at Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s biggest real estate services firms. 

Niland told Business Matters: “I went back and did a Master’s in real estate and I’ve been involved in commercial property for almost ten years. 

“I am on the landlord and tenant representation side so I act for a number of retail clients. 

“I’m involved on a number of shopping centre schemes, leasing units on behalf of landlords. I do a lot of work for Tesco. 

“It took a little bit of time to adjust from being a pro athlete to the corporate world. I’d never done an internship. I had no office experience. 

“So I had to learn how to print something properly. All the basic things that you might learn at 22, I was learning at 30 when I finished my career.”

It was a career that was certainly not unique in tennis – Niland himself described it as being “on tour with tennis’s Golden Generation and the other 99 per cent”.

But his spin on his own story of being the nearly man is a refreshing take. 

Niland concluded: “It couldn’t be a book of me just moaning for 250 pages, there needed to be a sort of a sense of humour about the situation.”

• Conor Niland was crowned winner of the 2024 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for his memoir The Racket