李娜vs. Sharapova　經紀人為誰加油？ - 網球 Tennis

由紐約時報去年的報導可以看出sharapova跟她的經紀人感情非常好，

報導連結：http://ppt.cc/TjXq
全文如下，摘要翻譯一些段落

Dealmaker for the Shotmakers

When Maria Sharapova decided that she wanted to stay at a new hotel for this
year’s United States Open, her agent, Max Eisenbud, embarked on a
reconnaissance mission. He met with management and interviewed security
officials. He toured suites and tested room service. He took a taxi from the
lobby entrance to the Midtown Tunnel, mapping out the fastest route to the
tennis center in Queens.

“I used to delegate this sort of thing, but it always got screwed up,”
Eisenbud said. “Maybe it’s grunt work, but where Maria stays is important.
She’s coming here for three weeks to try and win a Grand Slam.”

去年美網期間莎娃金口一開想要換間旅館住，經紀人Eisenbud就開始忙翻，重新找旅館、
跟旅館經理見面、談保全、看房間、嘗客房服務水準、甚至還親自搭計程車規劃到美網
最近的路線。

一切都是莎娃至上！畢竟她可是要來贏大滿貫的

When it comes to his prized client, no task is too menial for Eisenbud, who
has represented Sharapova since she was 12. Today, at 25, she is the
highest-paid female athlete in the world, earning about $28 million over the
past year, according to Forbes magazine. Another Eisenbud client, the
breakout Chinese star Li Na, ranks No. 2 on the Forbes list, having earned
about $18 million.

莎娃12歲時，Eisenbud就認識她了，一直合作至今，也讓莎娃也成為全球會賺錢的女運動
員，然後之後還簽下富比世名列第二會賺錢的女運動員李娜。

“You could fairly say that Max and Maria have the most successful
agent-player relationship in the history of the game,” said Andrew Walker,
the chief marketing officer for the WTA. “And it’s been amazing to watch
him replicate that success with Li Na.”

WTA的CMO說，Eisenbud和莎娃是網球界中最成功的經紀人-球員搭檔。

Eisenbud, a genial 40-year-old former college tennis player, prefers to stay
behind the scenes. He agreed to be interviewed for this article only because
he wanted to draw attention to Sharapova’s new business venture, a candy
company named Sugarpova. Eisenbud serves as its chief executive.

“He gave himself that title,” teased Sharapova, who was seated next to
Eisenbud backstage at “CBS This Morning” last week. She was appearing on
the show to promote the colorful line of lip-shaped gummies and
tennis-ball-shaped gum.

“But I’m the only C.E.O. in America not getting paid,” Eisenbud volleyed
back.

Eisenbud向來很低調，這次受訪是為了替莎娃創立的糖果品牌宣傳。
Eisenbud是這個糖果品牌的CEO，
莎娃：那是他自己替自己封的啦～
Eisenbud：美國只有我這一個 CEO 沒有薪水

While drawing no salary from the confectionary start-up, Eisenbud and his
employer, the Cleveland-based sports and entertainment giant IMG, have earned
millions of dollars meticulously managing Sharapova’s career.

Spend time with Eisenbud and Sharapova, and it is apparent their relationship
runs deeper than a business partnership. Their dynamic most resembles that of
an affable uncle and a spunky niece. She relentlessly needles him about his
receding hairline and expanding waist. He urges her to turn in early that
night and skip dinner at a swanky restaurant. (She didn’t.)

Eisenbud和經紀公司IMG靠著莎娃賺了大把鈔票，但是記者觀察他們兩人的關係其實更像叔
叔和姪女，兩個人會互相吐曹來、吐曹去。

Asked how they have stayed together so long in a sport where agent-player
alliances are fickle, Sharapova said, “We don’t see each other that often.”

Eisenbud agreed, saying: “I’m better in small doses. My wife feels the same
way.”

But get past the shtick, and they display a genuine affection for each other.

“Max is half family, half agent,” Sharapova said. “He has been with me and
believed in me from the beginning. I can be guarded around new people, but
with Max, because of our history, there is a special level of trust.”

被問到為和能合作這麼久？莎娃說：因為我們沒有那麼常看到對方。Eisenbud同意這樣的
看法，還說他老婆也是這樣覺得XD

Eisenbud說他們的關係其實已經是半家人了，對Eisenbud有特殊的信任。

Around the Eisenbud home in Miami, where he lives with his wife, Danielle,
and two young sons, Sharapova is known as Aunt Maria.

“Everything I have I owe to her, from the house I live in to the toys I buy
my kids,” Eisenbud said.

Eisenbud談到莎娃也很感恩，說他生活中的一切都得自莎娃，大房子啦、買給孩子的玩具
啦～

Growing up in Short Hills, N.J., Eisenbud dreamed of competing at the United
States Open. A top-ranked junior, Eisenbud won a full tennis scholarship to
Purdue, where he played four years on a middling team.

He also spent four years as social chairman of his fraternity, Pi Kappa
Alpha, becoming a minor campus celebrity for hosting blowout parties and
promoting concerts. After college, he spent several years managing Push Down
and Turn, an Indiana band he thought could be the next Rolling Stones. It was
not even the next Gin Blossoms.

Approaching 30 and starting to worry about his future, Eisenbud received a
call from Justin Gimelstob, a childhood friend who was then a rising star on
the men’s tour. Gimelstob needed help organizing a charity tennis event
featuring John McEnroe at their hometown club. Eisenbud handled the
assignment with aplomb, leading Gimelstob, an IMG client, to suggest that he
become a tennis agent. He had never considered the career because he
mistakenly thought agents had to be lawyers.

“Law school wasn’t an option for me,” Eisenbud said. “I could barely get
through Purdue.”

In 1999, IMG offered Eisenbud a job paying $27,500 a year. They sent him to
the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., an IMG-owned training
center for young talent. In a newly created post, he served as a buffer
between the junior players and their agents, who were based in Cleveland and
busy managing the likes of Pete Sampras and Monica Seles. Eisenbud did
everything, including overseeing the youngsters’ racket sponsorships and
coddling their overbearing parents.

踏入經紀人這一行，其實並不是Eisenbud的生涯計畫，無心插柳之下受到 IMG 的欣賞，進
了IMG工作。

On his first day in Florida, he was handed a list of the players and their
practice times. As Eisenbud roamed the courts, he was stopped in his tracks
by a tall, lithe 12-year-old smacking ground strokes with a supernatural
intensity.

“You ever see the videos of Tiger Woods hitting the golf ball when he was 6?
” Eisenbud said. “It was like that.”

Eisenbud had a hunch that the 12-year-old, Sharapova, who had come from
Russia four years earlier, would be his meal ticket. He ingratiated himself
to her and her parents, helping them settle sticky visa issues and deal with
the Russian tennis federation. Sharapova’s father asked that Maria work with
Eisenbud full time, and within 18 months, he had moved to Cleveland and was
representing her exclusively.

他初次見到12歲的莎娃就立刻看出她的潛力，就跟老虎伍茲小時候一樣天才，他立刻跟莎
娃的父母談簽約，然後幫忙處理各式問題。

Though Sharapova started turning heads at 13 with strong performances on the
international junior circuit, Eisenbud resisted smaller sponsorship deals.
Instead, confident of bigger offers to come, he primed the IMG sales force —
a group that works with the corporate clients — by sending continual
updates on her progress.

“Don’t sell her, just keep an eye on her,” Eisenbud instructed.

莎娃13歲起就開始嶄露頭角，但是Eisenbud並不急於短利，他拒絕那些較小的贊助合約，
還跟IMG 說：「千萬不要賣她，只要盯著她就好了」

In 2004, when Sharapova won Wimbledon at 17, companies were tripping over one
another to sign her.

“That’s when I saw the amazing machine that Mark McCormack built swing into
action,” said Eisenbud, referring to the pioneering sports lawyer who
started IMG. “Suddenly I went from being an idiot to the smartest agent in
the world.”

By the end of 2005, Sharapova had signed seven-figure contracts with
Motorola, Canon, TAG Heuer, Colgate and Land Rover. An eight-year deal with
Nike signed in 2010 could exceed $70 million, a figure that includes
royalties from her best-selling Maria Sharapova signature ballet flat from
the Nike-owned Cole Haan. Forbes has named her the world’s top-earning
female athlete eight years running. Harvard Business School teaches a case
study on the success of her brand.

果然這個壓寶押中了！莎娃2004年17歲贏得溫布頓，贊助合約全部湧進。Eisenbud說：
「一夕之間，我就從個白痴變成世界上最聰明的經紀人。」

到2005年，莎娃已經和Motorola, Canon, TAG Heuer, Colgate and Land Rover都簽下
7位數美元的合約，跟Nike簽下一份八年總值超過7000萬美元的合約。莎娃品牌的成功甚至
變成教材。

Right behind Sharapova in earnings is Li, the No. 1-ranked woman in China.
IMG had long yearned to sign Chinese players, given the opportunity for
Western companies to reach the country’s growing middle class. The Chinese
government had prohibited its athletes from working with agents but loosened
its reins after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

When Eisenbud signed Li in 2009, she was ranked in the top 25. Sponsorship
opportunities abounded, including several fast-growing Chinese apparel
companies that wanted to outfit her. Sensing an opportunity, Eisenbud struck
a hard bargain with Nike. He negotiated a deal that allowed Li to wear
patches with other corporate logos on her clothes. Every other Nike tennis
player — Roger Federer and Sharapova included — is barred from doing so.

Last year, Li won the French Open, the first Asian-born player, man or woman,
to win a Grand Slam singles title. Just as he did after Sharapova’s
Wimbledon victory, Eisenbud seized the moment. Within weeks, he struck seven
large corporate deals worth about $48 million over three years. Mercedes-Benz
and Taikang Life Insurance are each paying Li $2.5 million a year to
advertise on her sleeves.

在莎娃之後，Eisenbud簽下的是李娜，2009年時李娜的排名大約是世界前25，贊助機會比
比皆是，許多中國服裝企業都想要贊助牠，Eisenbud幫她跟Nike談成了一個連費天王、莎
娃都沒有的合約：讓其他贊助商的標誌也能貼在Nike的球衣上。

2011年，李娜成為第一個贏得法網的亞洲人(亞洲出生)，Eisenbud再次慧眼獨具，把握機
會在接下來幾周內就幫李娜談好了3年價值4800萬美元的合約，賓士還有泰康人壽每年都
付250萬美元在李娜的袖子上放廣告～

“One of the toughest decisions an agent has to make is when to cash in,”
said Darren Rovell, ESPN’s sports business reporter, “and Max’s timing on
both Sharapova and Li Na has been exactly right.”

Eisenbud dismisses the notion that he is some kind of commercial killer whose
masterly negotiating secures more money for his clients than they ever
dreamed possible. He likes to compare himself to Phil Jackson, the coach who
won N.B.A. titles with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant on his teams.

“Phil Jackson is a good coach, and I’m a good agent, but I wouldn’t be
sitting here right now if my clients weren’t Maria Sharapova and Li Na,”
Eisenbud said. “My main job is to not screw this up.”





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